The True King of Games
by ghirahim
Summary: They don't call him the 'king of games' for nothing; Mutou Yugi has never played a game he couldn't win - but in this twisted game of love there are no rules or expectations and you may not be able to even win because every move you make is a penalty.
1. When in doubt, chicken out

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh which should be obvious as I am writing a fanfiction about it; I make absolutely no profit from writing.

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><p>"<em>A friendship that can be ended didn't ever start."<br>-Mellin de Saint-Gelais_

"Oi, Yugi! Yug, wait up!" The multicolor-haired teen slowly turned around watching his best friend run toward him. It had only taken a few seconds yet Jonouchi Katsuya was panting by the time he reached the shorter teen. Then again the blond was probably running down the hall as soon as he saw those unmistakable multicolored locks. "I..." Gathering his bearings, the blond stood up straight. "I'm glad ya stopped, I got something for ya."

Yugi rose an eyebrow. It wasn't his birthday, the anniversary of their friendship, Jonouchi's birthday, or any particular eventful day the fifteen-year-old could remember. "What for?"

"Mutou, Jonouchi. Get to class!"

"R-Right." Grinning, the blond put an arm over the shorter teen guiding him toward their next class which was physical education in the gymnasium.

In the locker room, Yugi sat on the bench suspiciously eying the box in his lap. "Come on Yug, its not like I got ya something that would just explode in your face ...as funny as that would be." Violet eyes narrowed. "What's with the look? A guy can't just get a gift for his best buddy?"

Yugi continued to stare at the small, unmarked, rectangular black box in his lap. The shorter teen was normally a trusting, somewhat naïve individual but Jonouchi slowly brought him out of that hanging together almost every day for four whole years; Yugi gradually became more cautious and a lot more cunning than anyone (other than Jonouchi) would ever expect. But the point was no one just gave presents to their friends, no matter how close, without some sort of motive.

The multicolor-haired teen looked up at the blond who kept a neutral expression. Deciding Jonouchi was far better at this than he was Yugi curiously shook the box listening for some sort of hint. Frowning since he didn't hear any rattling or any other noise Yugi slowly opened the package but not before sending one last curious, distrustful glance at his best friend.

The package was oddly wrapped up inside of another package and after opening the second Yugi nearly dropped it when he pulled out what was inside. "W-What the hell is this thing Jou?"

"Duh, what does it look like man? Its a vibrator."

"I know that!" The shorter teen looked around the empty locker room before putting the multicolored vibrator back into its box then getting up and shoving said box into Jou's chest. "What are you giving this to me for?"

"Its not _for_ ya, per se." Yugi rose an eyebrow as Jonouchi grinned at him, "I guess ya could say its a gift for both of us."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Yug, I know ya aren't stupid. We watch porn together all the time. I was hoping we could use it... ya know, together?" Yugi's eyes widened. "I guess I'm giving it to ya because I'm putting ya in the driver's seat."

Yugi gulped as the blond leaned down so that his lips were mere centimeters away from his right ear. "Its a real pain using that thing by myself, maybe ya could help me out? Or, I could use it on ya."

Yugi couldn't help but lick his lips as Jonouchi clamped his hands on the shorter teen's shoulders. He used this thing by himself? The multicolored haired teen only held the thing for a few seconds and could barely grip the thing in his hand. How the hell did Jonouchi, or anyone, fit something that size inside of them! "Just to let ya know, I brought lube and all sorts of other stuff."

"R-Really?"

"Of course, ya gotta be prepared with these things. Just thinking about ya made me wanna use it but I'm trying to be in control. I'm still kinda horny and we could always skip and use them without interruptions at my place." Yugi was pretty sure he was panting at this point, especially since the blond hadn't let go of him and those tempting lips were still dangerously close to his ear wetting themselves seductively every few seconds. "What do ya say Yug?"

"What do I say? I say—"

_Beep, Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep, Beep!_

Violet eyes snapped open at the incessant, obnoxious screeching of an alarm clock. Groaning, fifteen-year-old Mutou Yugi slammed the snooze button on the stupid thing then slowly sat up noticing the prominent tent twitching in his sheet. Sighing, Yugi kicked the sheets off of his bed then trudged to the bathroom which was thankfully attached to his bedroom.

That was the twelfth night in a row he had a wet dream about his best friend; fortunately (or unfortunately ...depending on your perspective) this time he managed to wake up before the ..._end._ He was starting to run out of clean sheets and boxers and it was only a matter of time before his grandfather started asking questions about the missing linens.

Making a mental note to do the laundry when he got home today, Yugi reluctantly turned on the shower. There was no point in catching a cold to quell his lust so he'd just relieve himself while showering and gather his thoughts.

Yugi was a healthy red-blooded average Japanese teenage male so he was bound to have a few weekly wet dreams so there was nothing wrong with that – what was wrong was that the wet dreams were more daily than weekly and they starred his best friend of four full years. Even before he was pubescent he was lusting after his best friend – only then he didn't know the definition of lust or why he was feeling it. That was fully explained in his first wet dream almost three years ago.

There was no denying that Jonouchi was indeed an irrefutably attractive being, students from other classes came just to flirt with the blond who was more than just a little clueless when it came to the arts of seduction.

Sighing heavily, Yugi stripped completely ignoring the uncomfortable friction his boxers created when they grazed against his hard-on being pulled off.

It was never an easy thing to wake up just to jerk off, but even when his wet dreams reached their climax – _pun very much intended_ – he still had to relieve himself in the shower. Damn, his overactive stamina!

Eyes widening, the teen popped his head out of the shower. Even with the water running and his bedroom an entire floor higher than the ground level he could swear he heard his grandfather's voice clearly from downstairs. He only knew his grandfather was downstairs because he would have been even louder if they were on the same floor, not to mention his grandfather was a massive invader of privacy and wouldn't hesitate to enter the bedroom if he was on the same floor. The fifteen-year-old's voice was nowhere near as loud as his grandfather's so he decided there was no way he could reply while still in the shower so he didn't bother.

The teen tucked his head back into the shower then continued cleansing himself to satisfaction and satisfying other parts as well.

Done with the shower and beyond a few minutes later, Yugi stepped out of his shower in time to see Jonouchi walk into the bathroom. "Damn Yug!"

Blushing profusely the smaller teen grabbed the spare towel off the rack and covered himself fully; during this time his best friend turned around allowing him to do so not that it really mattered at this point. Yugi was just glad the shock temporarily disabled his ability to get hard because it was one of his fantasies having the blond join him in the shower; but thinking about looking at Jonouchi who was looking at him in the shower would only reroute his frazzled hormones.

"So..." The blond began locking his hands behind his head, "I guess with your height ya gotta make up for it somewhere."

Yugi's blush impossibly deepened. They were usually half dressed around one another, especially in the warmer months but full frontal nudity wasn't something you shared with close friends that were like brothers to you – especially when the taller brother in question is seven months younger.

"I guess I shoulda knocked?" Grinning, Jonouchi looked over his shoulder at the shorter teen who rolled his eyes heading out the bathroom to his room. "Shit ain't gonna be awkward between us because I saw your family jewels is it? I'll show ya mine to—"

"Please don't finish that sentence."

"Listen Yug, if you're that fully equipped ya—"

"Don't finish that sentence either!"

The blond sighed, "Yugi~"

"What?" Sighing, the shorter teen put on his boxers under his towel before turning toward his best friend. The blond had the nerve to unleash the dreaded puppy-dog pout on him; no one could resist that damn face! Especially when the blond tilted his head to the right and his lower lip started quivering slightly.

"Ya can't stay mad at me."

"I'm not mad."

"Then what? Ya sure as hell can't be embarrassed." Yugi facepalmed. Count on Jonouchi's tactless attitude to make an awkward situation right again. "Its gotta be painful slugging that thing around all day."

"Not..." Yugi shook his head, "I need to finish getting dressed or we'll be late."

"And that's bad?"

Yugi sighed, "yes its bad. I'm too small to be carrying buckets twice my body weight!"

"I usually carry them for ya so that's no big deal, helps me work up my muscle mass so its a win-win."

"I'll bet it is."

"Yug!" The shorter teen barely had time to react as Jonouchi tackled him to the ground; thankfully he was dressed ...for the most part but either way Jonouchi's warmth brushing up against his cooling shirtless body was not good for the libido.

If things weren't bad enough his grandfather headed into the bedroom and laughed heartily at the two boys laying on top of one another. "You two should get going if you want to make it to school on time." With that the old man merrily walked out of the room.

Yugi, who somehow managed to straddle the taller teen in the confusion, blushed profusely regrettably crawling off the blond's body... or at least he would have if Jonouchi wasn't holding his back. With his face still bright red Yugi glanced into those chocolate colored eyes and saw his own flushed reflection.

The shorter teen barely managed a gulp as Jonouchi's face seemed to be coming closer to his. Instinctively licking his lips, Yugi inched closer and closer to Jonouchi's face until—

"Are you two ready to go yet?" They instantly broke apart as Honda unceremoniously burst through Yugi's bedroom door.

Yugi managed to put his shirt on and fortunately he wasn't facing the door so the tall brunet couldn't see his red face.

"Come on already, the train's gonna leave us!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Help me up, would ya?"

"Sure..." The brunet easily hoisted up the shorter blond. "Why are you on the floor anyway Jonouchi?"

"Mind your own business man, lets go Yug."

"R-Right." Honda stared at the shorter teen noticing the slight blush he was sporting as he walked by. The brunet's eyes narrowed but he didn't comment walking out of the room too.

"You kids have a good day."

"Later grandpa."

"Yeah, later gramps."

"Bye Mutou-san."

"Mutou-san?" The old man chuckled. "Don't be a stranger now Honda-kun, you can call me gramps too."

"Right, I'll remember that." The old man nodded as the trio left the Kame game shop.

Sixteen-year-old Honda Hiroto might have grown up with Jonouchi but he clearly wasn't the blond's best friend; he was probably the next best thing but that still wasn't good enough for him. The brunet was there for Jonouchi in ways Yugi couldn't even begin to imagine!

The two teens met nearly eight years ago when they were in third grade; like most rambunctious children a fight had begun their friendship. Only it wasn't a fight with one another... their entire elementary school was full of delinquents so it was only natural that they would get along after sharing several interests. Both boys liked playing video games, reading comic books and skipping class so there was no way they couldn't be friends.

Jonouchi had joined a gang during the last year of elementary school in an attempt to pay off his father's massive and seemingly endless debt, so the two teens weren't as close as Honda would have liked during those years but they still hung out whenever the blond was available.

Sadly, in the midst of said gang years – specifically their first year of junior high – Jonouchi and Yugi crossed paths. Honda thought nothing of it at first but the two strangely seemed to be drawn to one another, it might have been negative at first but there was no mistaking it. Upon meeting Yugi, Honda thought he was a bit of a pushover because it seemed as though all their classmates took advantage of the small teen so he and Jonouchi bullied Yugi – Honda wasn't particularly proud of doing it but Yugi never retaliated even when Jonouchi gave him ample opportunities.

Sometime before the end of their first year in junior high Yugi managed to prove the manliness Jonouchi tried to pull out of him from their first interaction. He accomplished this by defeating the 'top dog' of their school; the crafty little guy easily outsmarted the big lug making him trip over his own feet and get knocked out when it hit the floor. In addition to gaining the respect of his fellow classmates Yugi got himself a loyal and devoted best friend in Jonouchi. Ever since that instance when Jonouchi patched up the smaller teen they were inseparable.

Honda wasn't all that willing at first. Whenever he would want to hang out with the blond Yugi was always tagging along. He didn't bully Yugi anymore but he would take advantage of him whenever Jonouchi wasn't looking and with the blond being so absent-minded that was often. But Yugi started to grow on the brunet as well, he wouldn't say he was as close as Jonouchi was to him but he was a close friend.

Even hanging out with Yugi, Jonouchi's personality didn't exactly change – he still (physically) fought for what he believed in and was as blunt and rude as ever – but he no longer hung out with classless thugs even though Hirutani tried to get the blond back into his gang with threats several times. Each time the blond would refuse Hirutani was forced to take action harming anyone who came in close proximity of the blond. When the black-haired teen threatened to harm Jonouchi's own sister the blond had no choice but to return during their third year in junior high.

Noticing Jonouchi's absence, Yugi and Honda both decided to investigate because the blond wouldn't skip school without telling either of them the reason. Honda easily beat up one of Hirutani's lackeys and got the information they needed. Figuring it was completely suicidal to try and take on a gang alone, especially since Yugi would be absolutely no help whatsoever in that field. The short, multicolor haired teen somehow managed to get the entire class to back Jonouchi up and an insane brawl broke out causing several dozen students to be hospitalized; worse of all was Jonouchi who had several broken limbs but even worse was that was his old gang leader whom the blond beat within an inch of his life; an eye for an eye was always Jonouchi's motto ...at least one of them.

Neither Honda nor Yugi left the blond's side at the time (with the exception of the times they were kicked out because they had school but whenever they weren't at school they came to see Jonouchi). His sister, Shizuka, had been hysterical when she burst into the hospital room. As the siblings constantly kept in contact even though they couldn't physically see one another aside from a webcam. Honda had a crush on her since they met nearly five years prior to the incident so Yugi had to console her, which he did poorly.

When the blond had been released nearly three months later he used his fighting prowess (perhaps the only good thing he obtained from being involved with Hirutani) to help the weak and whatnot in a true Robin Hood-esque fashion; he even managed to teach Yugi some basic fighting moves.

Perhaps Jonouchi was always the selfless type but this nature was hidden in an attempt to survive and only his badass, excessively violent persona shone through. The blond didn't exactly come from the most loving household, when his parents split his own mother had a restraining order filed against him! She would have also filed one for his sister but Shizuka threatened to run away so their mother called it off but out of fear of her son turning out like his father she limited the siblings face-to-face contact as much as she could, but like any mother she had been borderline hysteric when she saw her only son laying unconscious on the hospital bed fighting for his life.

Because she came to see him and not the other way around, it wasn't a violation of the restraining order but ever since she went to see him in the hospital she lifted the restraining order and even visited her son more often. She also helped him move out of his father's house and put down the first month's rent on his new apartment.

Despite not living with his father anymore, Jonouchi still had to be the debts he began paying since his last year of elementary school as a paperboy. Honda figured that Jonouchi's fighting must have just been an outlet to vent out his overwhelming frustration over the years; that probably also explained the blond's short temper and berserk button when he was called worthless or inferior.

Even in all the years they were friends Honda never met Jonouchi's father, though he did get a beer bottle chucked at him when he broke into the blond's apartment trying to find out why he wasn't at school – needless to say that was an incredibly short visit and he only saw the blond's mother that time at the hospital. Though he and Shizuka interacted more frequently because he was usually around when the blond talked to his sister via webcam.

"Honda?" The brunet blinked looking at the concerned faces of Jonouchi and Yugi. "What the hell man, ya were walking with this dazed look on your face!" Yugi nodded in agreement. "Are ya alright?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you haven't said a word in thirty minutes, not to mention while you were on the train your eyes were glossed over and sort of rolling in the back of your head." Honda looked down at the frowning short teen. Yugi was sometimes too damn perceptive for the brunet's liking. The two idiots personalities and habits seemed to rub off on one another because if was zoning out about five years ago then Jonouchi would have never noticed – in fact the blond would be too zoned out himself.

"Look, I said I'm okay. So I'm okay, _okay_?" Jonouchi and Yugi exchanged glances.

"Yeah... I ain't buying it." The former replied, "_but_ I'll tell ya what. If ya buy us lunch today we'll forget this whole thing happened." The brunet glared at him.

"Now, you don't have to buy both of us lunch Honda-kun. Jou and I will probably share anyway."

The brunet's left eye twitched. He almost forgot the idiots regularly shared lunch with one another! It was like they were rubbing their closeness in his face! Surprisingly, Yugi was the 'picky eater' out of the duo but he still had as voracious an appetite as Jonouchi did. "Dammit Yug, ya weren't supposed to remind him we could have ate twice as much for free!"

"We'll probably buy something else anyway and in any case we can't have Honda-kun go bankrupt for buying us lunch!"

"What if he brought us food after school instead?" Yugi sighed shaking his head. "Alright fine, ya don't gotta buy us anything ta eat... but I won't mind some calpis."

"No Jou—"

"Why not?"

"What do you mean why not?"

"Its not like he minds—"

Yugi sighed facepalming. "That's not the point."

"Its alright Yugi, I'll see how much money I brought to feed Jonouchi's sorry ass."

"Honda, you're the best man!" The brunet skillfully concealed his blush as the blond merrily clamped onto him nuzzling their faces together.

Yugi chuckled at this little display being far too used to it to comment further. "Come on you two, we're going to be late."

Regrettably, Honda allowed the blond to release him then Jonouchi turned to the still chuckling shorter teen. "Yugi, do you know what time it is?"

"Hm?" The shorter teen looked down at the watch attached to the carabiner on his backpack. Honda found out a while ago that the short teen had some sort of paranoia about not knowing what time it was and so he often had several watches on him. Once his entire wrist was lit up with watches and the weirdest part was they all held the exact same time, down to the milliseconds. "Its 8:35... _oh crap_! The gate will be closing any second now. We're late!"

"Like hell we are!" Grabbing both Honda and Yugi's wrist, Jonouchi sprinted toward the direction of their high school. With all the running the blond did Honda wasn't surprised in the least that the track teen constantly tried to scout him, the fact that he often ran from them made the team want him all the more.

As they hit the gate, literally, Jonouchi gave Honda a boost and the brunet easily climbed to the other side. Once he was secure in the school grounds Yugi was literally thrown at him making them both fall in the process. Sighing in relief, Jonouchi began climbing the gate – apparently sneaking in and out of private property for two years had its perks. As he reached the top of the gate an ice blue limousine came around the corner, seemingly out of nowhere and slammed into the gate head on nearly taking the blond's legs off in the process, but the momentum of the impact send the blond falling into the limousine shattering the already busted windshield.

"Jou!" Yugi screamed scrambling to his feet watching the blond laying atop the busted car. Even in his shock Yugi easily recognized the limousine belonging to their school's idol of sorts – Kaiba Seto. The chauffeur immediately came out of the driver's seat shaking approaching the unconscious blond.

"I'm so gonna get fired for this."

"Hey!" Honda yelled landing on the other side of the gate near the limousine. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"I-I'm so sorry! I-I thought Kaiba-sama was going to be late." The man's eyes widened. "Kaiba-sama!" He hastily headed to the back of the limousine opening the back door on the passengers side. "I'm definitely going to get fired for this!"

Irritated by the man's babbling, Honda charged forward pushing the man and looking inside the limo. "What the hell man, Kaiba isn't even in here!"

"T-The door closed, I assumed Kaiba-sama was inside and as it was approaching 8:30 I figured he had to get to school on time at all costs—"

"So you drive around town like a lunatic!" The man shrank back shaking almost violently.

"Honda-kun! Is Jonouchi okay!"

Yugi's blatantly worried voice brought the brunet back to his senses just as he was about to beat the idiotic driver senseless. Sighing, he walked over to blond wedged in the car's windshield. Jonouchi didn't seem to be in any mortal danger and was probably just out cold due to the shock. Nevertheless, the brunet picked up his unconscious friend bridal style. "I'm gonna take him to the hospital Yugi."

"By yourself?"

"You gotta tell the principal about this."

"There's no need for that." Honda's eyes narrowed at the turquoise haired bespectacled teen standing on the other side of the gate beside Yugi. "The principal saw the entire thing." The bespectacled teen pointed to the principal's office window. "In fact, half of the school saw what happened. I suppose you three managing to slip by without a punishment will have to wait for now." Adjusting his public moral committee arm band he turned to the distraught shorter teen. "Mutou-kun, you need to move so that I may open the gate."

Wordlessly and not taking his eyes off Jonouchi's limp body, Yugi stepped backwards enough not to be in the opening gate's path. Luckily it opened inwardly because it was highly unlikely that it would be able to open outward with the limo pressed into it. Once the gate was open Yugi ran over to Honda tip-toeing to see Jonouchi's face.

"Honda-kun, you can't take Jou to the hospital by yourself in his condition!"

"I know." The brunet sighed. "Hey!" The chauffeur flinched looking up at Honda. "This thing can still move, right?" Slowly the man nodded. "Take us to the hospital _now_!"

Nodding once more, the chauffeur scrambled to his feet and climbed into the driver's seat door. "I'm coming too—"

"Seeing as how you two clearly can't be left alone without proper supervision I'll accompany you." Honda and Yugi exchanged glances briefly before they got into the limo allowing the bespectacled teen to climb in behind them.

The ride to the hospital had been silent and with the driver now obeying the traffic laws it was somewhat calming. The brunet sighed inwardly, with the blond laying unconsciously in his lap he couldn't appreciate this opportunity to its full extent, he also couldn't enjoy his first (and probably only) ride in a limousine. The chauffeur had accompanied the group inside until Jonouchi was brought into a room to get looked at.

The doctor came in nodded at the three conscious boys before getting to work. It had taken a few minutes but the blond's wounds he obtained by falling onto the limousine were dressed. His back was badly damaged and embedded with shards of glass, his head suffered a similar fate which rendered him unconscious. After taking care of the blond the doctor left.

"We should be heading back to school now, you know how Crawford-sama gets when students skip."

"Haga." The bespectacled teen looked back at Honda, "I'm not going anywhere until Jonouchi wakes up."

"Me too." Yugi chimed in nodding. "You could go back to school if you want."

Chuckling, the bespectacled teen adjusted his glasses. "I'm afraid I can't do that Mutou-kun, you see I was put in charge of watching you two until you returned to the school grounds." Yugi and Honda exchanged glances then the latter sighed.

"Fine. I'll head back to school and you're coming with me bug boy." Grabbing the smaller, loudly protesting teen by the collar Honda stomped off. When he reached the door he looked back over his shoulder at Yugi seated by the bed. "Just to let you know, I have no problem kicking your ass if you don't take care of my buddy."

Yugi nodded as Honda exited the room. With the room empty, mostly, Yugi slowly got up hovering over to the top of the bed taking in the blond's sleeping face. Jonouchi usually had a pretty interesting sleeping face, but now his eyebrows were furrowed and he seemed to be in pain. Not that Yugi expected anything less, he obviously had to be in pain falling into an already cracked windshield.

Sighing, Yugi pulled up a chair then began gently caressing Jonouchi's face with his palm. As usual, the blond selflessly put himself in harms way making sure his friends were okay. Had Jonouchi climbed first he wouldn't be in this situation; if they didn't run to the gate he wouldn't be in this situation either. Frowning, Yugi regrettably retracted his hand then put his head on the bed near the blond's left leg.

"Yug?"

Violet eyes widened and Yugi's head snapped up at Jonouchi. "J-Jou?"

"I feel like I got hit by a truck."

"You didn't get hit by anything, but you fell on a limousine."

"Ah, Mutou-kun, was it?" Yugi looked up at the doctor flipping through his clipboard. "For the most part you are fine Jonouchi-kun, I mean you have a few bumps and bruises and a couple of cracked ribs – but you're biggest problem would be the blood you lose when you collided with the broken windshield. Dozens of tiny shards were embedded in you and each time we took one out you lost a small amount of blood; couple that with your anemia your total blood loss is about a litre and a half. You need to get some blood in you now before your situation gets worse."

Yugi grimaced. Jonouchi's blood type was B and his was AB, had it been the other way around there would be no problem – in fact Jonouchi had actually given blood to Yugi on two separate occasions but that was irrelevant. Yugi felt pretty helpless especially since the only person he knew with type B blood was someone he knew Jonouchi couldn't stand.

"Yug." Yugi looked over at Jonouchi. "You're not thinking, what I think you're thinking, are ya?" Gulping, Yugi nodded slowly causing the blond to sigh, "alright doc... I can get the blood."

— —

The hospital had dozens of donors on call unfortunately Jonouchi was in the second lowest blood type percentage in the world; Yugi was in the lowest but that was irrelevant. The only donors the blond could take blood from were an O- and another B- making ninety-five percent of the donors virtually useless. According to the doctor a few type O- donors were on their way but there was no telling how long they would take.

With the 'donor' Yugi had reluctantly called, it had taken him less than a half hour to arrive at the hospital. The donor in question was sixteen-year-old Otogi Ryuji, a classmate of Yugi and Jonouchi at Domino High School. Otogi was an arrogant, manipulative son of a bitch that Yugi considered a friend – of sorts. As for the others... Yugi couldn't really speak for them since they didn't voice their dislike of him. Honda usually muttered some obscene things but he said things like that about almost everyone; now Jonouchi, on the other hand, had a blatant disdain for the black-haired teen who seemed to be fueled by said disdain and enjoyed paling around the blond but no one knew whether it was because he enjoyed pissing Jonouchi off or if he was that clueless to the fact that the blond abhorred his presence.

Nevertheless, the black-haired teen amorously allowed the doctor to prick his vein and slowly get his blood to give to the blond.

Once he was finished some of the other donors arrived giving blood to the blond as well. The average human can still fully function losing up to fifteen percent of their blood, with Jonouchi's blood count lower than average with his anemia he lost close to thirty five percent. Four different donors had given blood to the blond, the three the hospital provided were all O- and Otogi was the only B- but all the blood was accepted either way.

Luckily, the blond hadn't gone into hypovolemiac shock with all the blood loss but the fact that he merely lost consciousness a few times during each inter-human transfusion the doctors wanted to keep him a little longer and make sure everything was as it should be.

Hours passed by in the waiting room and school let out so Honda returned with Yugi's childhood friend Mazaki Anzu. Before the whole borderline infatuation with Jonouchi, they always hung out together but even though they were friends Anzu was still apprehensive about hanging out with Jonouchi – given his track record – so the brunette was around but spent more time with some of her female friends, mainly the ones without prison records.

"Yugi, I have a cellphone why didn't you call me?" Anzu asked flopping down in the chair beside the small teen, "you even brought Otogi-kun here?"

"Otogi and Jou have the same blood type." Honda replied not bothering to mask his disdain for the black-haired teen.

"Jealous of my blood type Honda-kun?" The brunet's right eye twitched. "Are you upset that Jonouchi and I are a perfect match?"

"Like hell you two are! Its only blood."

"Blood that's not compatible with yours~"

"You should be thankful you're in the hospital Otogi, because you're going to need medical attention real soon—"

"Honda!" Anzu snapped causing both boys to flinch. "That's enough. We're here to support Jonouchi-kun, not to pick fights with each other!"

"He started it!" They replied pointing at one another.

"And now I'm ending it!" The brunette sighed, looking up she saw a white-haired teen approaching them. "Oh! Bakura-kun, you came!"

The white-haired teen nodded. Bakura Ryou was a shy one; last year during their final year of junior high the friend hoarding tag team of Mutou Yugi and Jonouchi Katsuya easily accepted the transfer student with open arms with as little badgering as possible. Bakura might not have been openly reluctant to be friends with such a rowdy group but he was visibly skeptical about hanging out with them. Nevertheless, he began hanging out with them anyway even though his foreign good looks gave many of their classmates leverage to take a liking to him. "Thank you for texting me Yugi-kun."

"No problem." The multicolor haired teen gulped as the brunette glared at him.

"As I was leaving I saw a couple of repairmen fixing the broken gate." Bakura tapped his chin, "Before that I heard the paparazzi flooded the Kaiba manor. Oh, by the way a few of our classmates said they'd stop by with gifts from Jonouchi-kun."

"Always the popular one..." Honda and Otogi replied shaking their heads.

"Where is he anyway?"

"Jou? He's still getting looked over by the doctors and because Otogi-kun was too loud we had to leave."

"Its not my fault he kept losing consciousness!"

"Fucking up things as usual." Honda replied shaking his head.

"That would be the pot calling the kettle black, wouldn't it?"

"Me fucking things up? Why you stuck up, son of a—"

Anzu hit the brunet over the head but said nothing. The doctor came out of the room and all five teens stood up surrounding him. "Is he okay?"

"Yes, Jonouchi-kun will be just fine. He's resting at the moment and as soon as his guardian arrives to fill out the release forms he can go." The teens stared at each other dumbfounded as the doctor walked off.

"Son of a bitch!" Honda yelled, "he told me his mom lives in Sapporo, it'll take her three hours to get here!"

Sighing, Anzu flipped her phone closed. "Sorry guys, I don't mean to sound insensitive but I can't stay here for three more hours, I can't even stay for another hour – besides we don't know exactly how long it'll take because we don't know how long far away she is from the airport."

Bakura frowned folding his arms over his chest. "I'm sure it wouldn't matter if we got another adult to fill out the release forms—"

"Wait a second!" Honda interrupted, "Yugi, can you get your grandfather to fill out the forms? He did say this morning that Jonouchi was like family, right?"

"Uh..." Frowning, Yugi sat back down in the chair, "h-he did and I guess that would be okay. I mean, I don't see why it wouldn't. But we have to call his mother and Shizuka-san too."

"Great." Otogi replied. "I'll ask the doctor if its okay, Honda'll call Jou's mom and you call your grandfather." The short teen nodded.

"Fuck that, why do you have to get the okay from the doctor? I don't even know his mom's phone number."

"You're even more useless than I thought—"

"_Kyaaaaaaa~_"

Everyone froze hearing several high pitched screams. "What the hell was that?" Honda asked.

"_Oh my gosh he's here~!"_

"_Get out of the way!_"

"_Ooh, I just have to take a picture!"_

"_I just can't believe it!"_

"_Its him; its **really** him!"_

The five teens braced themselves as the ground began shaking violently underneath them. With the tremors increasing Anzu fell forward landing in front of a pair of blindingly shiny black shoes. Blue eyes slowly traveled upward a pair of lean legs in the customary navy pants of Domino High School's uniform, the matching button-up navy top followed – the broad shoulders were covered by an all white leather trench coat, finally Anzu looked up at the face belonging to none other than Kaiba Seto.

Honda and Bakura helped the brunette up once they managed to get to their feet themselves. "Kaiba-kun?" The brunet glanced in Yugi's direction; out of all the teens Yugi was the only one still seated so the ground shaking didn't affect him like the others.

"Ah, Mutou-kun, its good seeing you." Blushing slightly, the short teen rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Is Jonouchi-kun awake? I brought a get well present." The brunet produced a bouquet of peonies from behind his back along with an incredibly large box of chocolate. "I was hoping to get his forgiveness for my ex-chauffeur's incompetence. I would have been here sooner but I had to deal with the paparazzi breaking into my house."

"Um... Jou is resting right now."

"Ah, Kaiba-sama!" A red-haired female doctor eagerly approached the fifteen-year-old pressing her massive breasts against his back and left shoulder. "Do you need some _assistance_? I can get you into..." Pursing her lips together, she took the clipboard off the door reading the name of the patient aloud. "Jonouchi Katsuya..." With the frown still on her face, she put the clipboard back pressing further into the brunet's arm. "_this_ room if you like."

"Hold on." Otogi interrupted, "the other doctor said we couldn't get in because Jou had to rest."

Scowling the woman glanced at the black-haired teen briefly before scoping out the others, "is there something I can help you all with?"

"We're waiting for the okay to see Jonouchi." Honda replied. His parents might have raised him not to hit a woman, even if she was asking for it – and this woman was definitely asking for it, but he could always sick Anzu on her; the brunette was definitely more violent than she was led to believe. Whenever she caught him messing with Yugi she'd make him pay for it ...physically! Hell, she hit him twice today...

"Right. This way." Slowly, she retracted herself from the brunet and opened the door. "As the patient is resting you might not want to be so loud. Now Kaiba-sama, if there is _anything_ else you need please don't hesitate to call me." The brunet nodded at the woman who happily walked off.

"Could she have been any more obvious?" Honda muttered to Bakura while shaking his head walking inside.

"Jou!" Since he was the last to enter the room, Yugi stuck his head out of the doorway in time to see a blond running up to the room. "Oh, Yugi."

"Kujaku-san!"

The blond waved him off, "please I told you that makes me sound like such an old woman. Just Mai is fine."

Kujaku Mai was a friend of Yugi and Jonouchi, surprisingly one of the few friends that wasn't shared amongst their little group... at least not yet. Mai was one of the employees of an arcade the teens frequented – only at the time they had no idea she was an employee. As they weren't clad in their school uniforms Mai flirted with them and they, not so successfully, flirted back. It was only when Jonouchi's school identification card slipped out of his pocket was when they were revealed ...and that was also when the truancy officers came for them. At the same time Mai had gotten fired from her job since she was busy playing games for free.

A few weeks later, they bumped into the blond again this time working as a waitress – she overcharged the hell out of them for their meal, however her plan backfired when they ran out without paying. Once again she got fired but an upside was that Yugi left his identification card in one of the chairs.

The next day when Yugi and Jonouchi were going to the Kame game shop they had an unwelcome visitor in Mai. The blond managed to slip into a uniform of their junior high easily fooling Yugi's grandfather who had stepped out as the teens arrived.

Several threats where given, apologies were made and a couple of yen was exchanged and by the end of the day the three became fast friends. The entire thing was a complete and total blur that Yugi actually had no recollection of what happened that night to truly make them all good friends so easily.

"Uh, Mai-san." Yugi gulped, "how are you?"

"This isn't the time for pleasantries I heard about what happened over the radio, is Jou okay?"

The teen nodded. "But you should determine that for yourself." Nodding, the blond followed him inside.

"Who is _that_?" Otogi asked.

"Oh, right. Guys, this is Kujaku Mai-san she's a friend of me and Jou. Mai-san these are my friends Anzu, Bakura, Honda and Otogi... oh and this is—"

"Kaiba." The blond looked him up and down, "you've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here and you brought gifts? How sweet, I'm sure your—"

Yugi cleared his throat, if he was tall enough he would have covered the blond's mouth but this would have to suffice. "Lets leave the hostility at the door, we all came to check on Jonouchi-kun."

"Crap." Anzu sighed, "I have to go home now. I expect to be informed of his progress Yugi."

"R-Right."

"See you guys tomorrow—"

"Wait a minute Mazaki-chan, we can't let you walk home alone." Otogi interrupted nodding. "Lets go Honda."

"You've gotta be shitting me!" Groaning, the brunet threw his hands in the air as he stomped out of the room behind Anzu and Otogi.

"And then there were four." Mai took a seat in the empty chair beside the bed. "Unlike the rest of you kids I don't have a curfew so I'll stay with Katsuya-chan all night. Of course, I'm sure you already got the okay from Sugoroku-san to stay overnight so you'll keep me company Yugi."

"I have no intention of leaving, Kujaku-san, unless I'm sure Jonouchi-kun is okay."

"Why would you? Its not like any of this is directly your fault."

"Its because this is indirectly my fault is why I'm here."

"Is that how you see it?"

Bakura sighed loudly interrupting the argument, "and I suppose I'll stay too and help Yugi-kun referee. By the way, what was with the ground shaking earlier?"

"My guess was the fangirls following pretty boy around. I was nearly knocked down on my way over here."

"Ah." Bakura nodded fidgeting nervously in his chair. The tension was so thick in this room a knife alone wouldn't be able to cut through it. If the white-haired teen didn't do something fast someone else might end up unconscious on a hospital bed. "Uh, Kujaku-san, do you mind accompanying me to the cafeteria? I'm not really comfortable walking alone in a hospital.. too many bad memories." Violet eyes narrowed at the white-haired teen then Mai glanced over at Yugi who's eyes briefly darted in the brunet's direction before looking back at the blond.

"Fine." Mai began with a huff standing up, "do you want anything Yugi?"

"Uh, well I didn't get the chance to call my grandfather could you do that for me please?"

"Of course, but that's not what I meant."

"Food wise anything is fine."

"Right." Nodding at the teen, Mai walked out of the room behind Bakura.

"That's an interesting friend you have there Mutou-kun, though she does seem a little old to be acquainted with high school students."

"Heh, heh... don't be silly Kaiba-kun. Age doesn't matter in terms of friendship."

"Ah yes, I know your speeches of friendship quite well." Yugi rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "And keeping with that subject, I was hoping you and I could be friends?" Despite every accessible fiber in the shorter teen's being screaming at him to decline he just couldn't flat out refuse without a moderately acceptable reason, especially since the brunet was always by himself in school. Even his hoard of rabid groupies kept their distance from him so, naturally, the brunet had to be depressingly lonesome. Never one to refuse a friend the choice was clear.

"Sure." He finally replied forcing a smile. Yugi might have agreed but with the whole limousine nearly running over one of their close friend, he wasn't entirely sure if the others would be so willing to befriend the brunet. Especially Honda and Mai.

Speaking of Mai, the blond returned with food and Bakura in tow. "I called your grandfather Yugi and he's on his way. I also ran into this woman in the lobby." A brunette peered into the room.

"Kawai-san!" Yugi exclaimed jumping out of his chair.

"Oh, Yugi-kun. I was on my way to visit Katsuya when I ran into your friend Hiroto. He told me all about what happened." She ran over to the bed looking down at her unconscious son. "This is the third time I've had to hover over his bed when he's fighting for his life."

"Third?" The brunette turned to Yugi, "this would be the second... wouldn't it?"

She shook her head, "you two didn't met the first time. While we were getting the divorce finalized my ex-husband took his anger out on our son and hospitalized him. I should have taken him then but..." The brunette collapsed in a chair sobbing, "its all my fault."

"N-No, Kawai-san it isn't—"

"He's right, if its anyone's fault its Kaiba's."

The brunette's head snapped up at the teen in question then up at Mai before sitting in the seat beside the bed. "No..." She shook her head, "Kaiba-kun has nothing to do with this. He acquired his bad luck from being in the same vicinity as his pathetic excuse for a father!" Taking a tissue out of her purse she dabbed her teary eyes and nose. "When he recovers I'm taking Katsuya back to Sapporo with me."

"W-What? No!" Yugi exclaimed. "I-I know you're his mother and I have no right to intrude on your family life but think of what your son would want. All of his friends and everything he's ever known—"

"I understand where you are coming from Yugi-kun, I really do, but his family is in Sapporo and I refuse to come back here."

"Um, we haven't been properly introduced yet." The brunette looked up at Mai again. "I'm Kujaku Mai, a friend of your son. If you need someone to take care of him I'll be happy to let Jou live with me."

"Are you insane?" The brunette nearly jumped out of her seat. "No offense, Kujaku-san, but no thank you. I barely know you and he is his father's son."

Mai rose an eyebrow, "no offense taken but Jou isn't his father and what exactly do you mean?"

"I mean, even if he isn't his father he spent most of his life around him. Nevertheless, I would hate to have an unwed teenage mother to deal with."

"She isn't a—" Mai stepped on Yugi's foot before he could finish.

"You don't have to worry about that, our friendship is strictly platonic." The brunette's eyes narrowed. "Honest!"

"Kawai-san." Yugi interrupted. "We—"

"Yugi!"

"Grandpa?" The old man came into the room panting. "I would have come in sooner but— _oh!_ You must be Jonouchi-san."

"Kawai. Jonouchi is my ex-husband's surname." She shook hands with Yugi's grandfather. "Its a pleasure to finally meet you in person Mutou-san. We just keep missing one another."

"Yes, well—" Yugi cleared his throat, "but that's not important right now. I heard yelling all the way from the ground floor, what's going on?"

"Nothing. I'm simply taking my son back to Sapporo."

"You are? But what about school, the first semester barely began."

"All the more reason to take him out now. Yugi-kun and Hiroto-kun are welcome to visit on the weekends." She looked Mai up and down, "and you as well Kujaku-chan."

"Kawai-san, what if we take care of your son for you? While Yugi's mother is away on business I take care of him and he's turned out just fine."

"Yugi's _mother_?" Mai, Bakura and Kaiba echoed. The teen barely, if ever, spoke of his mother so they all assumed she either abandoned him or was no longer living but neither of those were the case.

"I can't burden you with my son."

"Katsuya-kun isn't a burden at all. He and Yugi get along so well it would be a shame for them to get separated."

"I know..." The brunette sighed, "Yugi is the first positively influential friend Katsuya has ever had. I-I just hate to find out these things when I'm so far away and Shizuka is a thousand times worse."

"If I may interrupt." Everyone in the room turned to the brunet seated in the corner of the room. "I would be happy to have Jonouchi-kun under my care."

"You? This is your fault to begin with!" Mai growled.

"Kaiba-san, you're just a child yourself there is no way I would allow you to take care of my son." The brunette shook her head, "this is not open for discussion. Katsuya **will** come home with me."

"Ah... there certainly are more people than when I last left." The doctor cleared his throat. "Jonouchi-kun sustained minor injuries due to him falling onto the limousine but for the most part he is fine. Wait, I said that already didn't I?"

"Is it safe to wake him? I need to catch the plane back to Sapporo tonight."

"It is but its better to let him awaken on his own, we don't know what any shock might do to his condition. I have to say... ma'am your son is incredibly resilient, any lesser man wouldn't make it out of this with just a few scratches." Nodding at the brunette, the doctor walked off.

"Yugi!" The aforementioned teen turned to the doorway. "I just found out something Jou is an emancipated minor, he doesn't need anyone to sign him out... uh, who is this woman?"

"You must be Otogi Ryuji." The black-haired teen in question nodded. "I am Katsuya's mother." Otogi gulped. "I understand why my son never has anything pleasant to say about you."

"Wait a minute, if he's emancipated then Jou is technically legal—"

The woman glared at Yugi effectively shutting him up. "Yes, Katsuya is legally an adult but that doesn't mean I'm going to leave him alone like this."

"No offense lady, but you kind of already did." Yugi facepalmed as Otogi approached the woman. "Jonouchi has been in tougher situations than this and came out fine without your help. You probably had him emancipated after your divorce so you wouldn't have to deal with him. In fact I'm sure with your restraining order you coupled on a disownment. I'm sure the only reason why you are even here is to make yourself look good. The apartment you helped him get was to ease your guilt and now that he can pay for it without your help you feel the need to take it all away from him. Am I right, Kawai-san?"

"I don't know where you get your information from—"

"Ma'am, I'm an expert in obtaining and sorting out data especially when it pertains to my friends. I'm not about to let you screw your own son over just to let you sleep easy at night." The brunette's nostrils flared.

"I gotta say, I agree with spikes over there." Mai added. "You said it yourself, you should have never let him stay with his father and you did anyway. Not to mention you just called your only son a burden. You did what was best for yourself—"

"And daughter." Otogi added.

"—Yes and... _what_? She has a daughter too?" Bakura and Yugi nodded. "Damn lady... you selfishly disowned your own son distancing him from yourself and your daughter in fear that he would turn out like his father, but did it ever occur to you that perhaps your daughter might be the one to inherit their father's temperament or behavior? Just because Jou is a male doesn't mean he automatically assumes his father's personality."

"You kids have some nerve talking to me like that? I am Katsuya's mother—"

"Technically yes, but legally you aren't. The minute you disowned him you stopped being his mother."

"If that was the case I wouldn't have removed the restraining order or helped him get his new apartment."

"We already covered that Kawai-san." Otogi shook his head, "its too late for you to try and be a good mother now, the damage has already been done."

"Its obvious you're not doing this for Jonouchi's benefit so why did you come here Kawai-san?"

"Not that its any business of yours." She looked them all over not bothering to mask her disdain. "Any mother would be distraught to know one child is in the hospital and her other is on her way to see the first! Contrary to popular belief, I love my son and I had no ulterior motive to see him. I was on my way to check on him when I heard he was in the hospital."

The brunette's cellphone chose that moment to ring. "Excuse me for a moment." Without waiting for a response she walked out of the room.

"Can you believe the nerve of that woman? I don't care if she is Jonouchi's mother if we weren't in a hospital I would—"

"Okay Mai, we're all a little hostile right now but violence doesn't solve anything." Mai glared at the multicolor-haired teen. "I-I'm just saying. Besides, do you think Jou would be happy to find out you knocked out his own mother?"

"Well since this is Jou we're talking about he'll either be really pissed or think its kinda funny." Yugi facepalmed. "What? Come on Yugi, you should know that better than anyone!"

Yugi sighed, "this isn't a productive area of discussion. I propose that we _all_ leave and let Jou recover."

"We can't leave him here overnight alone!" Mai huffed, "my job is not even a full block from here so I'm not heading home anytime soon."

"Hey, if she's not leaving then neither am I!"

"You left already Otogi-kun."

"Yeah, but once I found this information I just had to come back." The black-haired teen sighed heavily. "To think that poor Jonouchi-kun has to deal with all of this unconscious. He needs his friends now more than ever Yugi. I believe the power of friendship will speed up his recovery."

Violet eyes narrowed. "Ooh, that's quite the expression." Otogi licked his lips, "and all this time I thought Jonouchi was the cute one. I guess I was only half correct."

"What the hell is the matter with you? I can't believe you are hitting on Yugi in a hospital room!"

"I wasn't _hitting_ on anyone, I was simply stating a fact."

Mai cracked her knuckles, "you've got to be blind if you didn't think Yugi was cute but that's neither here nor there. If you don't shut your mouth I will personally make sure you get transferred to the orthopedic department!"

Otogi gulped then nodded. Jonouchi's personality was _clearly_ rubbing off on this woman ...or she was just naturally hostile.

Yugi blushed slightly at the cute comment, he personally wasn't looking to be deemed as cute – it just turned out that way.

"I have a proposition." The three teens, Mai and Yugi's grandfather all turned to the brunet. "We should take shifts watching Jonouchi-kun. There are six of us here so we'll divide ourselves into pairs watching him."

"I'll watch with Yugi!" Otogi and Mai exclaimed simultaneously.

"Wait a minute, this is a horrible idea." Bakura, who was pretty much silent for the last half-hour, suddenly spoke. "Splitting up now isn't going to make things better. If we all have agreed to stay for the night then we should do it together."

Everyone in the room exchanged glances. "This hospital room isn't big enough for all of us to sleep in." Yugi's grandfather began, "I think we'll all be better off in the lobby and leave one person in here to keep Jonouchi company as he rests."

"The only person small enough to sleep here is Yugi—"

"You're absolutely right Otogi-kun, Yugi will stay here and the rest of us will be in the lobby sleeping." The black-haired teen gaped then found himself, Bakura, Mai and Kaiba being led out of the room by the old man.

"Goodnight." Yugi called out as the door closed behind his grandfather. Once the room was finally silent he sighed outwardly. It certainly was a lot quieter with everyone outside now; saying today was eventful was a huge understatement. To think a few hours ago they nearly kissed and now Jonouchi was laying unconscious in a hospital bed. Gulping, Yugi glanced over to the occupied bed before slowly walking over to it.

The shorter teen leaned over the bed and gently pressed his lips against his best friend's then almost instantaneously recoiled sitting back in his seat. He could swear the blond kissed him back but that could have been wishful thinking.

"Is that all?" The blond rasped in a soft tone, "I was kinda hoping for some tongue."

"Jou?" Tears nearly welled up in Yugi's eyes but crying wasn't manly and even laying in a hospital bed wouldn't deter Jonouchi from the appropriate unmanly conduct punishment. Yugi stood then leaned back over the bed seeing the blond's trademark grin. "You're..." Yugi frowned, "you weren't pretending to be asleep, were you?"

"Give me some credit Yug, I'm not that good of an actor." Jou's smirk broadened as Yugi's eyes narrowed. "I felt like sleeping beauty being awaken from a kiss from my handsome prince." Yugi couldn't stop the blush from taking over his face if he tried.

"That's an interesting face ya got there."

Yugi's blush deepened an impossibly darker shade of red so he figured it was best to change the subject. "Um, Mai-san visited... Bakura too a-and your mom came as well."

"Seriously? Did she go all psycho, manic-depressive?" Yugi nodded slowly, "yeah. 'Zuka said that their group therapist said the divorce _really_ fucked her up..."

"So, are you saying your mother is mentally unstable?"

"I wouldn't say that..." The blond sat up slowly on his elbows, "don't change the subject Yug. This is the second time we were interrupted."

Yugi gulped. Jonouchi was nothing if not persistent. "You're still recovering." Shaking his head, Jonouchi grabbed Yugi's arm pulling him on the bed practically on the covered lap. "We're in a hospital room."

"What do ya think I'm gonna do?" Yugi's face turned red. "You're thinking pervy thoughts, aren't ya?" Grinning, the blond nuzzled his face into Yugi's. Despite his obvious lack of attention when it came to flirting and the like Jonouchi was incredibly affectionate toward his friends.

"Okay." Yugi sighed pushing the blond's face away from his own. "If I kiss you, without interruptions, will you rest?"

"_Only_ if you lay next to me when we're done."

Yugi would have blushed again but he wasn't biologically sure if it was possible at this point. "Fine." Jonouchi didn't even give Yugi time to sigh before he pressed their lips together. Somehow, Yugi managed to suppress the ever present moan from escaping his covered lips. True to form, Jonouchi's tongue found its way into Yugi's willing mouth coaxing the appendage in question to a duel of dominance then sucking on it once he easily won.

The dire need of air made itself apparent and Yugi broke the trance sucking in as much air as his lungs would allow. The panting blond beside him grinned pressing their lips together again gently.

Yugi would have glared at him but it was too cute the way he was smiling plus his lips were slightly flushed. "Will... you... rest... now?"

Jonouchi nodded, "but we gotta do that again later."


	2. The makings of a true friend

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh which should be obvious as I am writing a fanfiction about it; I make absolutely no profit from writing.

Now then... _A/N: I do not know the name of Yugi's mother (and yes Yugi __does__ have a mother - check the manga if you don't believe me) so if anyone does know her name please feel free to tell me so that I can edit it later._

* * *

><p>"<em>Genius is the power of lighting one's own fire."<br>-John Foster._

Yugi could only stare at his best friend incredulously. "Jou!"

"Alright, alright!" The blond waved him off laying down in the bed pulling Yugi with him. "We'll talk more after a nap." Wrapping an arm around Yugi's waist Jonouchi lulled himself to sleep with the warmth of his best friend's body heat. Following suit, Yugi yawned before snuggling closer to the blond.

They often shared a bed when Jonouchi slept over but they never slept this close before, with the exception of that time a few nights ago when they stayed up watching scary movies. How was Yugi supposed to know Jonouchi wasn't a fan of horror films? Or that he would get _that _terrified? Nevertheless, the blond kept his manly facade until he passed out. Yugi had to give him credit though, he lasted a full five movies without so much as a peep. When the blond regained consciousness he insisted they share a bed and how could Yugi argue? He had his scared best friend eager to get into bed with him. What was better than that? Nothing and would Yugi be inclined to take advantage of this knowledge in the near future? Naturally. Come to think of it that happened right around the time Yugi started having wet dreams about the blond...

Violet eyes blearily opened surveying the surroundings. Domino High School had classes Monday through Saturday from 8:40 to about four pm excluding club activities; as today _was_ Saturday Yugi was sure more than just a handful of students were skipping school to see the blond or at least use that as an excuse. Looking to his left, because Jonouchi's body completely blocked the right side, Yugi noticed three angry faces looming over his.

"Yugi, what the hell is this?" Mai fumed. It was easy to mistake the two teens cuddling in bed together for something intimate but sadly it was not the case this time even though the still dormant blond was sporting one hell of a suspicious grin.

"Yeah!" Otogi piped in, "if you two were gonna spoon all night you should have called me!" Mai elbowed him in the ribs, "owww... I mean, why are you two cuddling anyway?"

"Uh... the chair was uncomfortable?" Three pairs of eyes narrowed and Yugi knew he gave the wrong answer to that question. Who would have thought they would all get so damn overprotective concerning Jonouchi? Then again, they probably wouldn't be here in the first place if they weren't. But if they were this upset about the two of them in the same bed it was safe to assume someone would blow a gasket if they knew the two teens had a brief make-out session before going to bed.

"If I didn't know any better it seems more like Jou..." Honda pointed at the arm draped around the smaller teen's waist. "made him do it."

That comment didn't seem to sate Mai but Otogi sighed in relief, "of course I mean what's there to worry about, Yugi is about as pure as they come."

Honda didn't need to look at Yugi to know he was clearly avoiding looking in his direction after that comment. He didn't know what sort of bullshit that idiot was spewing, Mutou Yugi was anything but 'pure.' Jonouchi had the multicolor-haired teen under his wing and in the blond's gang days he scored hoards of pornographic films from Hirutani. So, Jonouchi plus adult films _plus_ Yugi equaled the least amount of purity possible.

"Ah, everyone is awake already." Yugi's grandfather merrily walked into the room clearly oblivious to the hostility directed toward his grandson. "Oh, Bakura-kun isn't in this room." He walked over to the bed glancing over it. "And Yugi and Jonouchi-kun are still asleep."

Mai and Honda glanced back at the bed where the shorter teen's big, violet, expressive eyes were closed. Whether he truly fell back asleep or was just faking was unknown so Honda took it upon himself to find out.

"Oh, everyone is here." The brunet paused as the doctor entered the room. It was a different doctor than yesterday but he didn't seem any less capable of doing the job. "Good morning all, I'm just here to check on the patient." Everyone side-stepped allowing the man to walk into the room and approach the bed. "Well isn't this adorable?" He gently prodded Yugi in the cheek and he stirred snuggling closer to Jonouchi. "I suppose I should just begin."

Walking over to the other side of the bed he took out a flashlight and opened Jonouchi's left eye then his right. Nodding to himself, he massaged the sides of the blond's neck checking the pulse, then shone the flashlight in the blond's already opened mouth.

Taking off his flashlight then placing it back in its pocket he turned to the group. "Everything appears to be in order; pulse is normal and there are no signs of hemorrhaging, hypovolemiac shock or mydriatics." At the confused faces the doctor cleared his throat. "Sorry, he isn't bleeding out and his pupils aren't dilated." The man took out his stethoscope and checked the blond's heartbeat. "His heart rate is normal too..." He flipped through his clipboard.

"Can we take him out of here?" Mai asked, "the other doctor said we should let him awaken on his own but that was last night."

Still checking the clipboard, the man looked up at the blond then looked back at the clipboard. "Its okay to take him out... but you'll need to monitor him closely, apparently he lost an incredible amount of blood and all the visible shards were removed from his body but as no one is perfect there still might be some in him. I recommend he takes it easy for the next few days, his body isn't used to the copious amount of blood it received so he may feel lightheaded or the body might reject the blood so if he begins to bleed suddenly _do not_ hesitate to bring him back." Everyone in the room nodded.

"Now, I'll take you to be the guardian sir." Yugi's grandfather nodded. "I was told the patient is emancipated but as he is not awake I'll need you to sign him out at the front desk on his behalf. When he wakes up you are free to go." The two men exited the room ushering out Mai, Honda and Otogi.

"Oh." Anzu paused in front of the door as the others were being kicked out. "Is Jonouchi okay?"

"Seems like it." Honda replied and the brunette sighed in relief. "Yugi's grandpa is signing him out now."

"He's awake?" Otogi shook his head frowning. "Oh... why do you all seem so upset?"

"Yugi and Jou were snuggling!" Mai huffed folding her arms over her chest. Anzu's jaw dropped then she quickly shook out of her stupor. In all the years she knew Yugi he never seemed like the snuggling type nor did Jonouchi; of course their friendship in itself was rather strange so anything the duo did shouldn't be too surprising.

"Are you sure they were _snuggling_? Hospital beds are pretty small and I doubt Jonouchi-kun would let Yugi sleep in a small chair all night when he was in the bed." Anzu shrugged, "but Honda-kun knows Jonouchi-kun best."

The brunet scowled. Of course that was what Jonouchi would do but Yugi didn't have to take advantage of it! Not to be biased but it was quite possible that, contrary to popular belief, Yugi was the bad influence in their friendship. Yugi seemed like a sweet and innocent little boy but that didn't even scratch the surface.

Ever since he and Jou became friends Honda had an eye on the multicolor haired teen; no one was that adorably innocent without an ulterior motive. Perhaps if he would just get rid of the buffer (i.e. Jonouchi) for a while Honda could get to know the true Yugi... the teen behind that cutesy-wootsy, bullshit, overtly innocent act.

"Why are you all yelling?" The group turned to Bakura approaching them yawning. This was another reason why the white-haired teen detested hospitals, they appeared to bring out the absolute worst in even the most rational individuals.

As Otogi was about to explain Mai covered his mouth, "it doesn't even matter anymore. Lets just sit and wait for Mutou-san to sign Jonouchi out."

"Oh, is he signing Jou out?" The group turned to Bakura again, "I saw Kaiba talking to one of the doctors earlier talking about release forms." After a brief pause Otogi, Mai and Honda all ran down the hall.

Bakura tilted his head, "I wonder what that was all about...?"

Anzu sighed, "come on. Lets go check on Jonouchi-kun." The white-haired teen nodded following the brunette into the blond's hospital room.

Inside they saw a disheveled Yugi yawning adorably as he sat up. The teen was tugging at something hidden under the sheets. From the angle Bakura and Anzu were standing in what Yugi was doing didn't seem very family friendly but as the rumpled sheets fell the brunette sighed in relief seeing the arm Yugi was trying to get away from.

"Mornin' Yugi." Bakura greeted, "mind if I give you a hand?"

The smaller teen returned the greeting then nodded and Bakura approached the bed tugging at the arm that only seemed to wrap itself around Yugi's waist tighter.

"He sure is a stubborn one." Anzu chuckled, "mind if I take a crack at it?" The boys nodded slowly and the brunette cleared her throat. "Oi, Jonouchi-kun, I heard the hospital buffet was free for patients!"

Hazel eyes snapped open glancing around the hospital room. "I heard free food." The blond grumbled wiping the drool forming from the corner of his mouth with his free hand.

Both Bakura and Anzu chuckled, "yes but you'll have to get out of bed to get it." The former replied.

"Five more minutes..." Yugi squawked as he found himself being pulled back in a laying position. The blond nuzzled his face into the shorter, blushing teen's shoulder. The hospital wasn't exactly the worst place to get an erection but he wasn't in the right part of the hospital to do so without being deemed as a pervert, besides it was usually frowned upon to get a hard-on in front of your friends especially if one of your friends is the cause of your alleged hard-on.

As if on cue, the door opened, Honda walked back into the room scowling. "Fucking Kaiba paid the hospital bill up front!"

Anzu rose an eyebrow, "and that's bad... how?"

"This is _Kaiba_ we're talking about Anzu. The very same Kaiba that debated his way to the student government the first day of school? Who's to say he didn't do this without some sort of motive? Maybe he'll make Jou pay him back every single yen he shelled out today!"

"And why would he do that? I didn't even see the bill to know Jonouchi-kun doesn't make that much working."

"Exactly!" Anzu rose an eyebrow, "KaibaCorp has access to everyone and everything at any given time. He'll use this opportunity to turn Jou into his love slave or personal pool boy or something! No one knows what goes through the minds of the rich and bored, including themselves! There are endless possibilities!"

"Honda calm down, you'll go into cardiac arrest scaring yourself!"

"Um..." Bakura rubbed the back of his neck, "where is Kaiba anyway?"

"Hm? Oh, he left." The brunet shrugged, "and good fucking riddance; that shithead Otogi and that crazy Mai lady left too."

Anzu stretched then yawned, "well now that we're sure Jonouchi-kun is alright I'm gonna go home. I didn't get that much sleep with you and Otogi arguing every few seconds."

"Its not my fault, he starts with me!"

"Wait a minute..." Bakura's eyebrows furrowed, "didn't you two go home last night?"

"Yeah. But Otogi felt the need to give us the progress of Jonouchi-kun over the phone which was nothing more than a flimsy pretense to have the two of them arguing until four in the morning. I should have hung up the phone but he actually was telling us what was going on in between arguments."

"I see..." Bakura yawned. "I've had my fill of hospitals for a while, I'm going to go home as well."

"Honda, I don't care how much of a jerk Otogi can be you _need_ to stop letting him get to you or we're all going to go crazy!" The brunet waved her off. "Listen, you call us when you guys get home; I mean, you are staying right?"

"Why wouldn't I? I don't have anything planned or anything and Yugi's grandpa had to leave and as the oldest its my responsibility."

Anzu chuckled, "right. See ya later Honda." Bakura nodded to the brunet who nodded back.

As they left Honda sighed turning back to the bed. Yugi was initially awake when Honda returned to the room but he must have fallen asleep again in Jonouchi's arms. Truth be told, Yugi's grandfather offered to stay and make sure everyone returned to their homes safely but in order for Honda to 'bond' with Yugi he needed everyone else gone so like any responsible friend would do he offered his assistance in the matter; Anzu and Bakura leaving of their own free will was just icing on the cake.

Deciding now was as good a time as any, the brunet walked over to the bed tapping Yugi on the shoulder. The shorter teen stirred snuggling closer into the blond's embrace.

Resisting the urge to forcibly separate the two Honda tried again. The second time Yugi snuggled impossibly closer to Jonouchi but he slowly opened his eyes at the brunet, "Honda-kun?"

The brunet's left eyebrow twitched, "yeah, its me. Listen... everyone else left so whenever you two wanna wake up we'll get out of here and head to your place."

Nodding, Yugi slowly rolled over so that his back was facing the brunet. "Jou, its time to get up. The free food is gone now."

Hazel eyes slowly opened glancing down at that unmistakable multicolored mane belonging to his best friend. Jonouchi's eyes widened as he suddenly sat up, "how the hell am I supposed to pay this bill?"

Yugi sat up as well, "that's a good question."

Jonouchi cradled his head in his hands. "They're gonna hack off my arms and legs!"

"I'm sure gramps will be willing to help—"

"I can't ask your grandpa for money."

"Why not?"

"Because—"

"Shut up, both of you. The payment's been taken care of so stop worrying." The two teens on the bed stared at the brunet confused. "What? Don't give me that look. I would have paid if I could but it wasn't me. Kaiba did."

"Kaiba-kun?" Yugi asked. "Well, that certainly was nice of him."

"A little too nice." Honda countered. "Anyway we better get going. Shizuka-chan called about ten times this morning; she's at Yugi's place with his grandpa."

"Ah sweet." The blond slid off his bed locating his discarded uniform pants on a chair sliding them on over his boxers. Despite the temptation before them, both Yugi and Honda averted their eyes as the blond chucked off his hospital gown in favor of putting on his undershirt and t-shirt then hoisting his uniform jacket over his shoulder.

Once he was dressed, he folded his previously worn clothes then made up the bed with Yugi's help.

"Um, Jou, how do you feel?"

"Hm?" The blond glanced skeptically at his best friend, "I feel great, a little lightheaded but great."

"Yeah, the doctors said that was normal for a few days but if you start bleeding out we're going to have a problem."

Gulping, Jonouchi nodded slowly. As they were leaving the door opened. "Oh. You're awake, that's good." The doctor said flipping through the clipboard in his hands. "Listen, Kaiba-sama already paid for your bill as I'm sure you already know. He asked me to tell you that you, Mutou-kun and your other friends are invited to his house today."

"Why would we—"

Jonouchi covered Honda's mouth. "Now, now Honda it'll be rude not to see what Kaiba wants." He patted the seething brunet on the shoulder. "Right. I just gotta go home and take care of stuff first then we'll head over there."

"There's a limo outside for all of you to take you wherever you want."

"A limo?" Jonouchi and Yugi turned to one another grinning while Honda shook his head. This whole thing seemed rather suspicious almost as though Kaiba was trying to buy their forgiveness or worse... their friendship!

Thanking the doctor and getting Jonouchi's prescription for his much needed pain medication, the trio headed to the lobby where a chauffeur was waiting. "You must be Mutou-kun, Kaiba-sama described your unusual hairstyle." The man bowed. "This way gentlemen."

The trio slid into the limo with Yugi and Jonouchi bouncing in their seats and the chauffeur closed the door behind them before he went to the driver's seat. "Where to Mutou-kun?"

Yugi stopped bouncing to turn to Jonouchi who shrugged, "the Kame Game shop please."

"Of course." Nodding, the chauffeur turned around and began driving.

"I can't believe this is my second time riding in a limousine."

Jonouchi turned to him, "second? When was the first?"

"Taking you to the hospital yesterday; Honda-kun and I were in Kaiba-kun's personal ice blue limo." Jonouchi whistled. "Kaiba-kun must really love the color blue..." Much like its exterior the interior of the limousine was navy, everything from the seats to the plush carpeting.

"Don't knock the guy Yug, he did give us this limo to use."

"He came to see you at the hospital too, but you were unconscious."

"You gentlemen are welcome to help yourselves with anything." The chauffeur said without looking back. "There is a refrigerator and a microwave in case you're hungry."

"A-ma-zing~" Grinning, the blond opened the navy mini fridge whistling in appreciation at the contents inside. "Wait, so Kaiba came to see me in the hospital and now he wants to invite us to his house? He's a real sweetheart, isn't he?"

"I suppose he is and seeing as how you're healthy and conscious we can fully enjoy the limo ride." Grinning, Yugi picked up a bite-sized pastry popping it into his mouth.

Jonouchi nodded in agreement, "I hear ya. I plan on stuffing my face like crazy. It'll be a full on fridge raid!"

"I'd hate to interrupt your face stuffing session but don't you think its a bit suspicious for Kaiba to be so nice to us when he's never spoken a word to any of us since the school year began?" Exchanging glances Jonouchi and Yugi shook their heads, too busy stuffing their faces to reply properly. "Right... I must just be paranoid."

Jonouchi swallowed the food in his mouth. "Maybe." Honda glared at him.

"Gentlemen, we have arrived at the Kame Game shop." Yugi unceremoniously pressed his face against the glass looking at his house. The chauffeur rose an eyebrow at him as he opened the door. Smiling awkwardly, Yugi retracted his face and exited the limo followed by Jonouchi and Honda.

As soon as the multicolor haired teen stepped out of the limo he was embraced. "When I heard you were in the hospital I was so worried!"

"Uh, Mutou-san?" The brunette opened her eyes staring wide-eyed at a bandaged Jonouchi rubbing the back of his neck. "Yug was there for moral support."

Gasping, the brunette released her son to hug the startled blond, "oh Katsuya-kun! Are you okay? What happened?"

"Can't breathe!" Gasping again, she slowly released the blond touching his bandaged head. "I'm alright, I fell on Kaiba's limo when it hit our school gate on the way to school yesterday morning."

"What?" The brunette looked over the blond's shoulder at the chauffeur standing by the navy limousine. "Isn't _that_ one of Kaiba's limos?"

"Kaiba sent his chauffeur to give us a ride to his house later." Yugi's mother stared at the shrugging brunet before she approached the chauffeur.

"I suppose I should thank you for your assistance."

"Kāsan!" Yugi chided; she glanced over in his direction before turning back to the chauffeur.

"Thank you. Now, is it alright if I accompany the boys to Kaiba's house?" The chauffeur nodded. "Right. Now Katsuya, your sister is inside. She was more hysteric than I was when I got the news."

"Okay, I'll talk to her but is it alright if I shower first?"

Yugi's mother nodded ushering the boys inside. "Katsuya-kun, I guess all the classmates that came here and drop off their get well gifts are for you; all of that is in the living room as well." Once the boys were inside she turned to the chauffeur. "You're welcome to come inside as well, it might take a while before they're ready to go." Nodding the chauffeur walked into the Kame Game shop behind everyone else.

Needing a diversion, Jonouchi all but threw Honda at his sister and dashed up the stairs dragging Yugi along.

As the blond was a frequent guest in the Mutou household and revered to as family he often had clothes and toiletries of his own much like Yugi did at Jonouchi's apartment. Unfortunately all of the blond's belongings were in Yugi's bedroom and his adjacent bathroom. Under normal circumstances this would be okay, in some sense, Yugi would just relax in his room while Jonouchi showered or vice versa but as Yugi was in a battle with his uncontrollable hormones he couldn't afford to be in the same room as the blond who was naked and only separated by a creaky door; and to make matters worse as Yugi spent the night in the hospital with the blond he needed to shower too and obviously all of his belongings will be in his bedroom and bathroom as well.

It wouldn't be a problem getting his stuff and showering in a different bathroom but defiling his mother or grandfather's bathroom with his perversion wasn't something he hoped to do so soon or at all but he didn't have much of a choice because showering with Jonouchi was one hundred percent out of the question.

"So Yug." Violet eyes widened as the blond peeled off his t-shirt then undershirt leaving him topless in front of his best friend that was having a little trouble averting his eyes at this point, "do ya wanna shower first or should I?"

Gulping, Yugi shook out of stupor. "Y-You use this one." He replied with his voice rising at least one octave higher than normal. "Just let me get my stuff so I can use another bathroom." Without waiting for a response he bolted into the bathroom and quickly got the necessary toiletries and a towel. The clicking of the door made his eyes widen and he turned to the blond leaning against the closed door with his arms over his chest.

"We need to have a little chat before ya go Yug."

Resisting the strong urge to run the shorter teen held his ground. He couldn't pull the wool over the blond's eyes, Jonouchi was far smarter than he was given credit – he may not have been an avid planner but he was a quick learner and one of those people who thought on their feet.

"What about?" The blond wordlessly pointed at himself then at Yugi. "U-Us?" He tried not to squeak his response but it was unavoidable. "W-Why?"

"Why else? Are we... stepping into some sort of forbidden territory? I liked kissing ya but I really don't want to fuck up this friendship." Yugi gulped nodding, "I never told ya this but back in my gang days hanging out with ya... it was like a big spiky haired light in my dark little shithole of a life. Even before we were 'friends' we still hung out and I really, really liked that."

"S-Seriously?" The blond nodded. "Wow, I don't think my world was as dark but talking to you really brightened it up for me too." After a few seconds of silence Yugi sighed. "Don't over think this Jou, our friendship is solid nothing can – for lack of a better word – fuck it up."

"Yug, ya said a swear word!" The blond teased causing the shorter teen to blush slightly.

"L-Listen! We can ...kiss and not ruin our friendship. Its sort of a showing of our closeness."

"Don't bullshit me Yug, ya little perv." Yugi's blush deepened. "I know what your game is... but I mean if we watched one another jerk off then what's a little smooch here and there?" Grinning, the blond walked toward the blushing teen kissing him on the forehead. "I'd kiss ya on the mouth but I didn't brush my teeth yet." He grabbed Yugi by the shoulders, "now. I gotta shower so out ya go."

Blinking, Yugi found himself out of his bathroom door with all his toiletries in his hand. "I was kicked out of my own bathroom?"

Shaking out of his stupor, the multicolor haired teen trudged to the guest bathroom. The house, game shop fusion had a total of six bathrooms; four upstairs and two downstairs and out of all the bathrooms Yugi's was the only one that was connected to a bedroom. Yugi's mother figured it was better to give it to the teenager who would need to seek refuge in the bathroom more often than herself or her father-in-law. And boy was she ever right...

Closing the bathroom door behind him Yugi sighed heavily. Jonouchi had basically given them permission to make out but nothing more. Frowning, Yugi glanced down at the bulge straining the front of his uniform pants.

It had taken all of the fifteen-year-old's existing willpower to not get hard in front of his best friend, especially as they were laying in bed together, and it appeared to pay off this time. If kissing and _watching _one another masturbate was doable then it was only a matter of time before mutual masturbation or any sort of touching would be okay.

There had been times in which they were watching porn together that Yugi would glance over suppressing the urge to reach out and stroke his best friend to completion. In fact, most of the times when Jonouchi was engrossed in the screen Yugi would just glance at him to get off. He never actually got to see the blond's face as he came but everything before that was pure carnal bliss. Thinking about it he never saw Jonouchi fully naked because he had some level of modesty about him (which seemed odd given the situation) so Yugi never got to see the one part of the blond's anatomy that he was focusing on through the tent in which the blond's hand disappeared into.

Yugi shook his head then furrowed his eyebrows undressing. While he broke the streak of waking up with an erection this was the second day in a row he had to jerk himself off in the shower. On the subject of him and Jonouchi watching porn and sometimes getting off ...now that Jonouchi actually got a semi-good look at Yugi he would more than likely urge him to whip it out fully or worse whip is own out just to even the odds. If anything Jonouchi hated being indebted to anyone no matter how miniscule and dealing with his father's debts he had a pretty good reason to feel that way.

Yugi held his head under the running water that matted his unruly hair. Lack of sexual gratification aside, Yugi was indebted to his best friend and it was the kind of debt he couldn't possibly pay back.

The first year of junior high school wasn't at all what Yugi expected it to be. As the shortest kid in the entire school, Yugi became the on call errand boy for some of the kids in his class and because he was too nice (i.e. a complete pushover) they took advantage of him at every opportunity.

Sometime during the middle of the school year he and Jonouchi met. The blond transferred into their class after a small 'dispute' with his teacher calling for his immediate transfer to another classroom which happened to be Yugi's – at least that's what Honda told him. Yugi and Honda had been in the same class for the entire year but the brunet barely paid any attention to him unless it was to get him a drink from the vending machine.

A few days into Jonouchi's transfer that he noticed some classmates bossing Yugi around. He came over to the group and told them to get their own _damn _things and leave 'the kid' alone; as everyone was terrified of the blond they complied leaving Yugi alone and even offering to get him things.

Of course, with his temper, he yelled at Yugi for not defending himself but the shorter teen didn't see the problem in helping out his classmates even if it meant he rarely got time to eat his own lunch because of it.

Jonouchi let him off with a warning claiming if they asked for more favors he wouldn't be around to help. After that moment, for some odd and inexplicable reason, Yugi found himself drawn to the blond. During every break Yugi tried to engage in any sort of conversation he could think of despite the rumors the classmates told him.

Apparently, these rumors spoke of Jonouchi being a gang member (which wasn't a rumor as it was the actual truth); he was also involved with the yakuza, developed his own crime ring, spent most of his childhood in prison, had about three different baby mothers, was a porn star, sold organs at the black market and all sorts of ridiculous things along that line.

Naturally, Yugi didn't believe any of it... though during one of their lunchtime conversations the blond did mention some involvement with the yakuza outside of the gang he was apart of so that wasn't a rumor either but no one else needed to know that. They wouldn't be considered 'friends' but they wouldn't not be considered it either.

Yugi also got to find out a bit more about the blond personally. Like the reasons why he was given the okay to wear sunglasses indoors or how he didn't need to wear the customary gym shorts that everyone else had. In addition to paying off the man's debt, Jonouchi's father also physically abused him. While his sunglasses wear more like a fashion statement than anything else they concealed the bruises he got from his old man.

The teachers and other staff tried placing the blond in foster homes but his father wouldn't hear of it – every time they tried to take the Jonouchi away his father would physically take it out on him and the blond's mother couldn't be contacted probably because she wanted nothing to do with her ex-husband or their son.

Once Jonouchi opened up about his family life Yugi knew he found a friend in the blond especially when the blond seemed so moved by Yugi's declaration of their budding friendship; and Jonouchi turned out to be the first friend the shorter teen ever made on his own.

Aside from his choleric temper, the blond was a lot of fun to be around which made Yugi actually enjoy going to school for the first time in a while.

Jonouchi was perhaps the only student in the school (aside from Anzu) that didn't try to take advantage of him which also made Yugi happy. Yes, the blond did bully him but not in the way of the other students. Jonouchi perpetually harassed Yugi in an attempt to get him to – for lack of a better term – man up. The blond never laid his hands on Yugi but he did try and get him to fight or just swing at him but to no avail. Eventually after they started hanging out Jonouchi just stopped trying saying it wasn't too bad that Yugi wasn't that manly.

Opening his eyes, Yugi looked down at his wrinkled hands. He didn't know how long he was in the shower for but his body was starting to prune. While his mind was on autopilot he soaped himself up and managed to will his erection down ...or subconsciously jerked off – he didn't know yet but he wasn't hard anymore and that was what truly mattered.

Giving his body the once over, Yugi rinsed himself off then turned off the shower. He stuck his head out of the shower searching for anyone before he stepped out with the towel around his waist. Seeing as how he was kicked out he didn't get the chance to get some clothes to wear.

Gulping, Yugi slowly made his way back to his bedroom. Knocking on his own bedroom door seemed weird but as badly as he wanted to see Jonouchi undressed everyone was still downstairs and it was only a matter of time before someone ventured upstairs to check on them.

Yugi tentatively knocked on the door gasping as it opened suddenly and he was pulled inside. Yugi moaned into the mouth pressed against him silently thanking his decision to brush his teeth while showering. Sadly, the kiss ended as briefly as it began and Yugi had to wet his lips savoring the minty flavor in his mouth.

Opening his eyes, although he was unaware when he actually closed them, Yugi looked up at Jonouchi's grinning face. "What if it wasn't me?" Yugi asked between pants. Though the question he truly wanted to ask was why did the blond stop?

"Nah. I had a feeling it was ya, though I would've been screwed if it wasn't." Jonouchi looked down at the towel clad teen. "How come you're not wearing any clothes?"

"I left—_ah!_" Eyes widening, Yugi's hands grabbed onto the hand that latched onto his towel. "W-What are you doing?"

"Ya gotta get undressed anyway, right?"

"Yeah, but I can't just drop my towel in front of you!"

"Sure ya can." Yugi struggled to keep his towel wrapped around his waist torn between bearing all and just letting Jonouchi see him naked and keeping the small shred of self-control he possessed resisting the all too tempting urge to undress. _This_ was exactly the type of bullying he had to endure from the blond in junior high and even though his tactless best friend meant well this was probably the worst type of bullying out of all.

"Jou, I need to get dressed so we can go downstairs and talk to your sister!"

"'Zuka's alright, especially with Honda slobbering all over her..." The blond paused. "Wait a minute, that's not alright! I'll see ya downstairs Yug."

Yugi sighed in relief as the blond all but ran out of the room closing the door behind him uttering a stream of curse words and threats. Remembering what the doctor told them before they left Yugi opened the door. "Jou, remember not to get worked up!" He yelled. Jonouchi yelled back something akin to an agreement before running downstairs. Sighing once more, Yugi closed then locked his bedroom door while looking down at his towel. Fortunately, Jonouchi wasn't close enough to warrant a full-blown reaction but that kiss did spread a great deal of warmth through his body and that thought alone made Yugi blush slightly.

Perhaps getting permission to make out wasn't in his best interest, Jonouchi was touchy-feely by nature so Yugi was having a hard enough time keeping his hormones in check but this... _this_ was insane and it was only a matter of time before Yugi lost his mind because of it.

Resigning to his unfortunate fate, Yugi trudged over to his closet to put on some clothes. "Crap!" He uttered suddenly. With the unforeseen overnight trip to the hospital Yugi didn't get the opportunity to do his laundry that he needed and he _needed_ to do laundry. The tiny built-in wardrobe in his closet was lacking a considerable amount of undergarments – the continuous onslaught of wet dreams only decreased the count as he needed to do the laundry for weeks but never got around to it.

Sighing, Yugi pulled out one of the few pairs of boxerbriefs he (or more accurately his _mother_) had folded into a little cubbyhole in her last act as his personal clothing washer several weeks ago hence his dire need to do his own laundry, not that he could actually allow his mother to do his laundry now.

Slipping his underwear on, Yugi pulled out a pair of socks as well as a random shirt and pants from the closet slipping those on too. It wasn't summer, despite being dangerously close to it in late May, but the weather was warm enough to wear shorts and not get a few dozen stares.

Yugi padded down the stairs seeing the copious amounts of flowers and boxes of candy surrounding the living room which was better known as the gameroom of the Kame Game Shop. The fifteen-year-old walked into the living room tracing the edge of some of the flowers as he walked by. Flower shops didn't have as many flowers as this room did and the biggest oddity of all was that every possible known genus of plant was in this room except for hydrangea which Jonouchi were allergic to. Even though the school year began about a month ago everyone knew about his allergy due to his anaphylactic shock in the school's horticulture club greenhouse. One room of the greenhouse was filled to the brink with hydrangeas and the blond broke out into a rash so fast it wasn't even funny – having never seen or even heard of the flower before Jonouchi had no idea he was allergic to them but after that incident he and the entire school knew.

Walking out of the living room Yugi spotted Shizuka hugging the air out of her brother's body. He hadn't seen Jonouchi's mother since Otogi and Mai ganged up on her in the hospital but she did take a phone call before disappearing so that was probably Shizuka worried sick about her brother – the brunette did say that she had one child in the hospital and the other on the way.

"Yugi-kun!" He barely had time to brace himself as Shizuka glomped onto him. Apparently this sort of behavior ran in the family, though Shizuka's hugs didn't give him the same gooey, lust-induced feeling as her brother's they were still as tight. The brunette released the smaller teen sighing in relief. "Thank you so much for taking care of Katsuya; you truly are an amazing best friend to him." Blushing slightly, Yugi rubbed the back of his neck.

"Does ma know you're here?" Staring at Jonouchi, Shizuka nodded. "I heard she was at the hospital last night but I was out cold."

Frowning slightly, Shizuka nodded again. "She told me to tell you she apologizes for her behavior last night." The blond tilted his head to the left in confusion. "She also said hospitals seem to bring out the worst in her." She glanced at Yugi briefly before turning back to her brother. "But lets not talk about mom now, what about you? Are you in any pain?"

"Yeah, but I'll manage."

Yugi rubbed the back of his neck as the siblings started conversing. Aside from his grandfather, Yugi was the only one here now that witnessed the events of the night before and judging by that look Shizuka clearly knew that – it was possible their mother made it seem as though they sought her out as the villain and verbally attacked her which wasn't entirely false although it was definitely taken out of context. Kawai Shizuka was like her brother ready and willing to throw herself into the line of fire to protect her family or friends.

A loud grumbling made everyone turn to Yugi who blushed rubbing his stomach. "I haven't eaten yet. Sorry."

"Me either." Jonouchi remarked standing. "We should get our grub on at Kaiba's place~"

"Wait a minute!" Honda began, "how are you both hungry when you ate in Kaiba's limo!"

"Yeah, but those were little cakes and stuff. I need some real food." Jonouchi replied patting his stomach as Yugi nodded in agreement.

Shizuka's eyes widened. "Katsuya, you're going to Kaiba-san's house? Today? But why? Isn't he the one that did this to you?"

"Well Kaiba wasn't at fault and even if he was would could I do about it? I mean I could kick his ass but what good would that do? Besides, Kaiba invited us over to his house and it'll be rude not to sample some of their chow."

"I'll go too. I'm not due home until later and I need to make sure you're alright."

Grinning, the blond put his arm over his sister's shoulder. "I'm the big brother 'Zuka, let me do the worrying okay? But you can come anyway."

"I'd love to see Kaiba-san's house too but I have a game shop to run." The old man chuckled, "by the way Yugi, you should see if Anzu-chan is available she called before you arrived."

"U-Uh, okay. I'll do that."

"If we're going to the Kaiba manor then all of you need to change into more presentable clothing." Yugi's mother chided staring at the three boys who were all clad in jeans and t-shirts – Jonouchi being the worst of the trio with his borderline obscene graphic shirt. "Go now!"

"B-But Mutou-san, I don't have any clothes here." Honda replied bracing himself. Yugi clearly didn't inherit his mother's aggressive personality; the brunette had a bit of a violent streak hitting her son and often his close friends when they acted up. Though, much like her son, Yugi's mother appeared to favor Jonouchi more than the rest of them.

The blond rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't even own anything 'presentable.'" Honda glanced at the chuckling blond. As often as Jonouchi slept over it was obvious he was going to have some of his own clothing here because there was no way any apparel of Yugi's would fully cover his body.

The brunet had to admit he was surprised Jonouchi didn't just move in to save himself the commute and the Mutou family would more than happily accept him full-time. They practically did already. However, Honda knew that Jonouchi enjoyed having his own place and asserting his independence – though Honda had yet to see the place in question; hell, not even the school knew his home address and even placed Yugi's mother and grandfather as his emergency contacts. The gifts sitting in the living room were proof enough that Jonouchi's home address wasn't just something he shared to everyone but the brunet had this feeling that Yugi not only knew the location but was a frequent visitor.

"Well, at least change your shirt." Honda heard Yugi's mother yell shooing the blond away up the stairs while her father-in-law laughed.

The brunette sighed then turned her attention to Honda who gulped. "You can fit Katsuya-kun's clothes, can't you?"

"Uh... I'm about three centimeters taller than Jou is so yeah." The woman stared Honda up and down frowning. The brunet was wearing a short-sleeved plain black hoodie with a pair of jeans; his outfit wasn't as colorful as the others so it was deemed passable by her standards.

"I suppose you're fine as is." Honda sighed in relief. She glanced at Yugi who wordlessly ran up the stairs. The poor boy had an unusual sense in fashion but her son was unusual in every sense of the word so it was understandable.

A few minutes later Jonouchi and Yugi returned panting slightly. The latter was clad in a plain white shirt and a pair of black shorts while the former was wearing a long-sleeved red and black striped shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Why are you wearing long sleeves Katsuya-kun?"

"Kaiba's place might be cold and I'm anemic and walking around with unfamiliar blood in my veins so I can't be too careful." The brunette nodded in understanding. True it was the first time she heard the blond was anemic but it did seem to get cold ridiculously fast and his body temperature was lower than most people so she really wasn't all that surprised.

She nodded. "I'll change into something else then we can leave. I want everyone into the limousine by the time I come back!" Before she left the room everyone, excluding Yugi's grandfather, ran out of the house and into the limo.

"Yugi!" Outside, Yugi rolled down the window seeing Anzu standing by the limo. "I'm so glad you guys didn't leave yet." The multicolor haired teen opened the door allowing the brunette to get inside.

"What are you doing here Anzu?"

"Duh, what do you think? Did you really think I'd miss the opportunity to go to Kaiba-kun's house?" The brunette shook her head. "I don't think so." Honda shook his head at Yugi who shrugged. How could he _not_ tell Anzu? She was the first person outside his family to show him any sort of kindness, besides she'd kill him if she wasn't involved in this little trip. Yugi was already skating on thin ice for not telling her Jonouchi was in the hospital right away but this would smooth things over for him. Hopefully.

After Yugi's mother got into the limousine the group drove to the Kaiba Manor stopping off to pick up Bakura who had unusually good timing to call them as they were driving off and as it was on the way why not invite him along? Yugi thought about inviting Otogi along but he was quickly and brutally outvoted.

The group stared in absolute wordless awe at the mansion in front of them. The chauffeur guided them into the house where they were greeted at the doorway by a line of bowing maids and butlers.

"Its just like the movies!" Jonouchi said giddily until Anzu elbowed him.

"Y-You must be Kaiba-sama's guests." The blue-haired man said bowing. "I am Isono; head of security for the Kaiba siblings."

"Siblings?" The others echoed exchanging curious glances.

"Please, follow me."

"Yeah, Isono right? Where's the food?"

"Jonouchi-kun!" Anzu hissed startling the blond. "We're guests so stop being rude!" She replied pinching his cheeks. "I apologize for his behavior and there won't be anymore interruptions." She glared at Honda and Yugi who averted their eyes.

As they continued to walk Yugi's mother patted the brunette on the shoulder nodding in appreciation. Anzu seemed like the sweet, innocent type but the brunette was definitely going to set some worthless man's life straight – hopefully that honor would go to her worthless son.

The group strolled down the ostensibly endless hallway approaching the black double doors. "Sweet, is that black gold?" Jonouchi asked. Flabbergasted, everyone turned to the blond with their jaws dropped then the blue-haired man eventually nodded slowly. "What? I worked at a jewelry shop."

Shaking out of his stupor, the man wordlessly pushed the double doors open revealing an empty dining room. "Please, have a seat and Kaiba-sama will be with you momentarily." Bowing, he closed the door as everyone walked into the room looking around in awe.

"So, what... should we spread out or sit together?" Honda asked. "I'm kinda confused."

"I'm guessing the chair at the head of the table is Kaiba-kun's so maybe we should sit near there and leave a space for his supposed sibling."

"How does that whole royalty thing go... I think its the seat to the right." Jonouchi tapped his chin, "do you remember it Yug?"

"No but I think its the right also so we'll just leave that open." He pulled out a chair then Honda tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sit next to me, would you?" Gulping, the fifteen-year-old complied. He didn't hold a grudge or anything against Honda for bullying him in junior high but Yugi honestly didn't know how to act around him. Fortunately, he never was alone with Honda thanks to Jonouchi; nevertheless throughout the four years they were acquainted the brunet never showed any signs of liking or disliking him and Yugi often thought Honda merely tolerated him for Jonouchi's sake so he was incredibly weary of the brunet. Honda took the first seat on the left with Yugi beside him then was Anzu and finally Yugi's mother and on the other side were Jonouchi, Shizuka and Bakura respectively.

"Now remember, we're guests so lets try to be on our best behavior. Especially you Jonouchi-kun!"

"Huh? Why me? How come you're not scolding Yugi or Honda?" Anzu glared at the two teens in question. "Besides, Yug and I aren't near one another how could we get into trouble?"

"You'll think of a way." Anzu sighed shaking her head when Yugi's mother tapped her on the shoulder.

"Anzu-chan, I just want to say what I fine job you are doing whipping these boys into shape." The brunette blushed rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm sure your parents are proud of you."

Yugi flinched as he felt something brush against his bare leg under the table. Glancing up and directly in front of him was Jonouchi grinning at him with one arm propping up his chin. Usually when they ate together they were seated next to one another to avoid reaching over the table to share food so sitting across from one another was a bit unusual – not that they would be able to share food anyway with Anzu the watchdog on their case.

As Jonouchi brushed up against his leg again Yugi figured it might not have been the best decision to wear shorts. Once the brushing stopped Yugi kicked the blond who hissed in pain. When the others looked at him questioningly he brushed it off as one of his previously inflicted pains.

Yugi was already predisposed to touch due to their impromptu make out session when selecting their clothes earlier and Jonouchi playing footsies under the table would only make things worse.

The gentle rapping at the door startled everyone making them stiffen in their seats. "I hope everyone is hungry~" A voice called out. "Because the Wong catering company is here to serve!" A tall black-haired woman exited from what was presumably the kitchen. She steadily carried a large serving tray in each hand carefully walking over to the table setting a covered bowl in front of each guest at the table as well as the two empty seats.

"That's just the appetizer folks, I'll be here all day."

"Um..." Yugi looked around the room before turning back to the waitress, "are we supposed to eat now or do we wait for Kaiba-kun?"

"Hm?" The black-haired woman tapped her chin. "I'm not entirely sure. Kaiba-san did say to serve as soon as I got here so I guess its okay to dive in now. You really wanna eat it when its nice and hot." She looked the nodding teen up and down. "Say... you wouldn't happen to be the international king of games, would you? You know, the kid that just can't be beat no matter what game he's in?"

Blushing slightly, Yugi nodded. In his younger years, his grandfather perused the globe for a series of games to promote business to the Kame game shop and in a few of these adventures he took his grandson along with him. Any offspring of Mutou Sugoroku had to be an avid game player because the man wasn't the best around but he was a damn good player at almost every game he played but Yugi... the boy was deemed a natural at a very early age.

Even before he was reading and talking clearly his grandfather was teaching him how to play games of all varieties. He was only a couple months old when played his first game – it was hide and seek with his grandfather and he found the old man with relative easy.

Combined with his natural talent, Yugi was an incredibly quick study playing at a rate beginners could only dream of. There wasn't a game thrown his way that he couldn't understand the rules to in under five minutes.

During every competition his grandfather more or less made him compete in he either won or very rarely had a first place tie. Because of this gaming prowess the teen was internationally given the identifier the 'king of games' - it wasn't exactly the best nickname but at the same time it wasn't the worst.

Throughout the years classmates, fans and even total strangers attempted to challenge him at any sort of game only to end up losing but still happy to be able to face off against a celebrity. Yugi never considered himself anything of the sort and was humbled by the popularity.

"I can't believe I'm meeting Mutou-kun in person and he's so cute too! I just have to take a picture." The woman flipped over the table landing behind Yugi's chair. Grinning, she leaned forward then took out her cellphone and quickly snapped a picture. "Beautiful~" She cooed kissing Yugi on the cheek. "Ooh, I should have taken a picture of that too!"

"Excuse me!" The waitress glanced to the left at Anzu. "I don't think its professional for you to be hopping over tables and taking pictures of guests."

"Yeah, well sweetheart that's the beauty of being your own boss." She winked at the brunette. "Oh..." She glanced across the table at Jonouchi. "Well aren't you a cutie, why are you all bandaged up?"

"I got into an accident." It was the blond's turn to blush slightly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Kaiba's limo nearly took his head off." Honda commented before taking a sip of his water.

The black-haired woman glanced at the brunet briefly before turning back to a nodding Jonouchi. "Though it was more like my legs than my head."

"Whatever." Honda waved him off.

"Ah, that explains it. Why Kaiba-san wanted nothing less than perfection from my meals, not that I put forth any less." The woman shrugged. "Oh! Where are my manners. I'm Wong Vivian your chef and waitress this evening."

"You're getting awfully chummy with the guests Wong-san." Flinching, the black-haired woman slowly turned toward the small boy. "My brother doesn't pay you to chat."

"Of course Kaiba-san." She bowed. "Excuse me. You folks enjoy yourselves."

As Vivian walked back into the kitchen a hand grabbed hers. "You're already skating on very thin ice, I may not be the one that hired you but I can fire you all the same." The black-haired boy released the arm before walking into the dining room. "Welcome! Sorry for the wait. I am Kaiba Mokuba and I'll be your host this evening."

The group stared at the boy in awe. "I see you're speechless, that's good. My brother should be joining us soon, its not easy running a multi-billion _dollar_ cooperation on a daily basis but he does manage."

Taking in the stares Mokuba took the offered seat next to Jonouchi. He turned to the still stunned blond. "Judging by your bandages I'd say you are Jonouchi-kun. My brother paid for your hospital bill but that doesn't seem to be fair enough, what if we also paid for any additional medical expenses you require like physical therapy or any extensions you need from work—"

"How did you know Jonouchi had a job?" Honda asked eyes narrowing slightly.

"Oops. I got a little carried away, silly me. I've seen Jonouchi-kun deliver things to some of our lesser known buildings. Or at least I've heard about him from some of the employees working in the offices saying how sweet he is and whatnot. Right, I don't know the rest of you so lets all introduce ourselves. As I know Jonouchi-kun, lets start with the lovely lady he's seated next to."

"Hey, I don't care if ya are a Kaiba don't go making goo-goo eyes at my little sister!"

"Oh, your sister hm? Interesting. And I wasn't making any goo-goo eyes. I swear."

"Its okay Katsuya." The brunette chuckled despite the glare she was receiving. "I'm Kawai Shizuka."

"Oh! I'm Bakura Ryou."

Everyone glanced at Honda who gulped. "Honda Hiroto." He grumbled.

"Uh... M-Mutou Yugi."

"Mazaki Anzu."

"And I'm—" The buzzing of her cellphone made the brunette frowned, "terribly sorry. Excuse me for one moment." She got up with her cellphone walking into an unoccupied space of the room. After a few seconds of silence she rejoined the group. "I sorry for leaving so suddenly but I am needed elsewhere." She bowed. "Nice meeting you Kaiba-kun."

"Wait, allow my driver to take you home." Nodding, the brunette took the offered ride exiting the house.

"We can't let Yugi's mom's food go to waste, why don't ya invited the chef to join us?" Jonouchi asked. Mokuba stared at the blond momentarily before shrugging. It wasn't completely unheard of to have the chef join their employer for a meal though Mokuba figured it was beneath him and never even considered it but if it was at his guest's request why not.

Besides, given the blond's choleric temper it would be wisest to indulge him. Mokuba wouldn't have allowed these people access into his home without a thorough background check after all, even if his brother was the one to invite them. He didn't really need the introductions as he did his checks prior to their arrival but it would be creepy if he just shelled out information on them especially since they probably never knew he existed prior to today – though he knew nothing of the blond's little sister whom he didn't share a surname with.

Excusing himself, Mokuba walked into the kitchen where the black-haired woman was getting started on the second course. "Good news Wong-san, you've been invited to eat with the masses."

"Hm, how lucky for me." She turned toward the boy who gulped seeing the kitchen knife in her hands. Smiling, she tilted her head to the right. "It would be an honor for me to join you guys."

Stabbing the knife into the counter, she turned back around to the food lowering the temperature on the burner to the lowest possible setting. "The food is all done, its just keeping warm." She briskly walked past Mokuba into the dining room.

"Thank you for allowing me to join." She said with a bow.

"No sweat." Jonouchi replied. "Ya made the food so its only right ya eat it too." The black-haired woman winked at the blond walking to the other side of the table. Vivian glanced at the empty seat then at Anzu.

"Hey, switch seats with me. I wanna sit next to Mutou-kun."

"Fat chance." Anzu huffed.

Eyes narrowing, Vivian kicked the back leg of the chair causing the brunette to lean backwards momentarily then Vivian somehow managed to switch their seats without letting Anzu hit the ground. Honda, Bakura, Shizuka, Yugi and Jonouchi couldn't help but clap at the performance as they couldn't see what happened from behind.

"Oh my, you really ought to be more careful dear." She said scooting her chair closer to Yugi. "So... Mutou-kun." She began grinning trailing a hand up the teen's thigh. "How old are you?"

"F-Fifteen?" He squeaked out.

The double doors swung open and Kaiba Seto waltzed into the dining room seemingly in slow motion. Isono and a different man in sunglasses were walking a few steps behind him. The occupants of the table paused in their eating to watch the brunet gracefully sit in the chair at the head of the table.

"I apologize for my tardiness." He said in a soothing tone clasping his hands over one another atop the table. "I'd like to thank you all for taking my invitation." He half bowed somehow getting the others to return the gesture.

He turned to the blond who resisted the urge to gulp. "How are your wounds Jonouchi-kun?"

"Fine, I guess. I've had worse."

Kaiba glanced at the black-haired woman seated next to Yugi, "and I see Wong-san has joined us." The woman in question nodded enthusiastically. "How about after dinner we indulge ourselves in a few games?"

"Games?" Jonouchi asked, "are ya sure 'cause Yu—" The blond hissed as Yugi kicked him under the table. Brown eyes narrowed at purple before the former sighed. Everyone at the table stared at the blond questioningly. "Uh... I don't really think I'm in the condition to do much of anything." He chuckled then cleared his throat and sipped some of his water. Yugi sighed propping his hand against his chin.

Playing games required a lot of reading as you normally had to read the rules so Yugi read a lot of things even when gaming wasn't involved. And in times of said reading he read several articles about Kaiba Seto. The fifteen-year-old was an avid gamer as well and according to every article and interview the teen had been in he was more than just a bit competitive – not to mention KaibaCorp was a _gaming company_! To Kaiba a guy like Yugi was a goldmine, getting the infamous 'king of games' to endorse some of their games would have them set for life. Of course, it was possible that Kaiba himself had an eye on the coveted title which would make selling their wares even better if they were created by the king of games rather than simply endorsed by them.

Yugi wasn't necessarily the competitive type – sure, he played to win most of the time but the forefront of it all was the sheer thrill of the game. However, given the proper motivation, almost anyone could be deemed as competitive when the need arose for it but as long as that fun aspect was there it was no problem. After all, friendly competition is the healthiest form of competition; and Yugi was all for friendly competition.

"Hey nī-sama, if we're going to be playing we shouldn't be stuffing our faces so much."

"That is true..." The brunet glanced at the half-empty bowls around the table ...though both Yugi and Jonouchi's bowls were completely empty. "but its up to them how much they can eat."

"If that's the case, seconds please?" Yugi and Jonouchi replied holding their bowls out in front of them oblivious to both Honda and Anzu sighing while shaking their heads.

"Coming right up~" Vivian said gracefully getting up getting Yugi's bowl then walking over to the other side of the table getting Jonouchi's. Showing off her acrobatics in front of guests was one thing but she heard stories from former caterers that Kaiba didn't like to be outdone by anybody in anyway. If anyone was going to show off in the Kaiba manor it was the fifteen-year-old.

After a few seconds the black-haired woman returned with two steaming hot covered plates. She placed the first one in front of Jonouchi then walked around the table depositing the second one in front of Yugi before she took her seat beside him. Vivian had to admit she figured the brunette beside her would jump at the chance to take her seat back, but perhaps the girl was all bark and no bite? Or maybe she was waiting for a better opportunity? Or perhaps she already took the seat then moved again to avoid a confrontation? Nevertheless, she had to keep an eye on that girl getting too close to her precious Yugi. If the black-haired woman played her cards right that snippy little girl would be nothing more than just a friend.

Vivian was a gamer herself so once she heard about this so-called 'king of games' she was set on finding him and taking him down despite hearing that he was only a child. Of course seeing how adorable the king truly was the black-haired woman couldn't think of beating him now – even if they competed in some sort of game she'd lose because she'd be too busy ogling the teen to focus properly. No matter, there were other ways to harness royalty ...after all every king needed a queen and that's exactly what she was going to become.

"So... how is it Mutou-kun?"

"Its delicious Wong-san!" Yugi beamed in between chews causing Vivian to coo latching onto him.

"Oh please, Mutou-kun, just Vivian is fine." She laughed waving him off. Of course, at the moment, she couldn't shower the adorable little teen with too much attention so she turned to the blond who happened to be stuffing his face which Vivian had to admit was adorable in its own right. "And Jonouchi-kun, I take it you're enjoying your meal as well?" The blond nodded swiftly not bothering to stop chowing down.

"Well if Mutou-kun and Jonouchi-kun are still eating the rest of you can join Mokuba and I in the gaming room." Bakura, Anzu and Honda exchanged brief uneasy glances before they got up; in a matter of seconds several maids and butlers appeared seemingly out of nowhere and attended their vacated seats picking up their plates and pushing in their chairs before they even had the chance to move from the table.

"Wow, that's good service." Honda commented. "Yugi, Jou ...don't eat too much you still have to eat dinner later." The duo nodded as they continued to eat.

"If its alright Kaiba-sama, I'd like to stay behind in case the boys need anything else." The brunet nodded before leading the rest of his guests into the next room.

"Honda!" Anzu grabbed the brunet by his arm as they were following the Kaiba siblings down the hall. "I do not trust that woman around Yugi! She nearly took my head off just to get close to him." She whispered, smiling as Mokuba glanced back at her curiously. Once he turned around she sighed. "We don't know what else she's capable of!"

"You're exaggerating Anzu. I know you're the big, younger sister type to Yugi but he's a big boy. And honestly, I didn't see her do anything to you and what's she gonna try with Jonouchi still there?" Honda tapped his chin, "of course she could have poisoned him... then again that scatterbrain probably won't even realize something is going on right in front of him." Anzu facepalmed. "Anyways, like I said, don't worry."

"That doesn't make me feel better at all!"

"We're here!" Mokuba announced startling the two brunets. "Welcome lady and gents, to the Kaiba Bros official in house gaming center." With that he pushed the double doors open smirking at the expected oohs and ahhs from his guests. "We have every game imaginable in this room."

"How does it all fit?" Bakura asked as he walked inside with Anzu and Honda following suit.

"We extended the room so everything can fit and there would still be room left to walk around. There's even a downstairs for the virtual reality games." Anzu sighed as Bakura and Honda were practically panting and foaming at the mouth. Being around Yugi for years turned them into avid games, granted they were nowhere near as good as their pint-sized companion but still enjoyed a good game as much as the next fellow.

"So, uh, should we wait for Yugi or can we start playing on our own?"

The siblings exchanged glances before Mokuba nodded curtly. "Play~! That's what this room is for. The longer those two take, the more games they'll miss out on."

"I couldn't have said it better myself. Come on Anzu."

"Hey, wait a minute!" The brunette protested as Honda and Bakura dragged her further into the room. There were certain games that had Anzu as excited as the boys but overall she was more of a watcher – a supporter on the sidelines – than an actual gamer.

Sighing, Mokuba folded his arms behind his head. "I thought you did this to get chummy with the king of games? Is it really okay he isn't playing anything?"

"Patience otōto, if I'm going to beat Mutou-kun at a game he needs to be at his best – plus I need lots of witnesses when I dethrone the king."

"Well just keep an eye on the others before they break something. We haven't officially opened Kaiba Land yet and these prototypes need to work before their unveiling."

"You're too young to be so negative, think of our guests as the test subjects." Mokuba fixed his older brother with a pointed stare. "Relax, when have you known me to fail at anything?" The black-haired boy sighed. "Now go and play, you know you want to."

Looking his brother up and down, Mokuba complied heading into the room. The elder Kaiba brother turned toward the room's entrance awaiting the soon to be former king of games.


	3. Pure genius

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh which should be obvious as I am writing a fanfiction about it; I make absolutely no profit from writing.

A/N: Even though this is the original Yu-Gi-Oh because I duel with the 5Ds games I'm going to use some of their cards in the story (which also includes the GX cards). Hell, maybe I'll use some Zexal cards too...

* * *

><p>"<em>No amount of careful planning can beat pure luck."<br>-Anonymous_

As they walked down the seemingly endless corridor, courtesy of Isono, Yugi paused mid-step feeling a chill momentarily before sneezing. Jonouchi paused as well looking back at his best friend. The shorter teen mumbled an apology. "You sick?" The fifteen-year-old shook his head.

"Oh my!" Vivian interrupted glomping onto Yugi's back pressing the back of her hand against his forehead. "Then someone must be talking about you."

"Me? Who would be talking about me?" Yugi flinched slightly as Jonouchi rose an eyebrow at him but said nothing. Vivian got off the fifteen-year-old then started walking again with the teens following suit.

The blond was in Yugi's company when he read a few of the articles about Kaiba; in fact, Jonouchi had read a couple of them out loud in a weird mocking aristocratic tone. Yugi glanced up at Jonouchi as they continued to walk. Sure, the blond was often scatterbrained at times – as badly as Yugi didn't want to admit it – but he at least had to know that Yugi was on edge. Kaiba was a voraciously competitive gamer so it was possible under the false pretense of checking on Jonouchi's injuries the brunet solely brought them here to take the title Yugi didn't really want in the first place.

A little recognition was okay once in a while but the damn identifier was often more trouble than it was worth! It was merely a title – but to so many people it had such an intense meaning. Most people often went ridiculously insane with a little bit of power so being named the best gamer in the world could create a series of unstoppable megalomaniac thoughts.

Yugi wasn't the judgmental type and he didn't really know Kaiba enough to make strange accusations but the times he did see Kaiba after school with his homeroom teacher and the fifteen-year-old didn't seem to be the most stable of individuals. The only reason why Yugi saw him in the first place was because he and Jonouchi were often detained for disrupting the class; but as they were in different classes Yugi had no idea _why_ the brunet was usually after school especially since he had a little brother at home.

According to a few of the articles, Kaiba won a couple of championships himself but oddly enough Yugi never met or even heard of him in most competitions so it must have been a rich person thing. So instability, wealth and extreme competitiveness were definitely the traits to screw up a young mind in terms of power.

"Here we are!" Isono said startling the daydreaming teen. The blue-haired man pushed open the double doors of the game room and Vivian, Yugi and Jonouchi's eyes widened considerably.

"Wow!" Vivian exclaimed walking inside. "In all the years I've been working here I've never seen anything like this."

"I wonder if there's a roller coaster in here." Jonouchi asked stepping in as well.

"Jou, you were just released from the hospital today roller coasters should be the furthest thing from your mind!" Yugi took a step inside but Isono grabbed his arm.

"Mutou-kun, there was something Kaiba-sama specifically requested you see before entering the game room."

Jonouchi stuck his head out of the room and into the doorway. "You coming Yug?" The blond glanced at the hand on his best friend's arm. "What the hell—"

The blue-haired man stared at the blond before releasing Yugi's arm. "If you'd like, Jonouchi-kun can come as well." Yugi had to think about that for a second, he was about sixty maybe _seventy_ percent certain that Kaiba wouldn't want to physically harm them – especially as they were in his home with witnesses – but at the same time he wasn't sure what he was going to see and if it would be strenuous on his already battered best friend. He glanced at the blond staring at him then nodded. He wouldn't even bother wasting his time trying to talk the blond out of not coming. Jonouchi was by far the most stubborn person Yugi had ever come across and that included his own mother!

Isono closed the game room doors then proceeded to walk down the hall with Jonouchi and Yugi wordlessly following.

At the sound of the door closing Vivian turned around frowning when she noticed not only was Yugi no longer behind her but he wasn't in the room at all. Huffing, she turned around to leave and search for the teen when she heard another door open. Hoping it was Yugi she turned around and her demeanor instantly deflated when she spotted Mokuba.

"Is there a problem Wong-san? I thought I heard the door."

"You did. It was me." Suppressing the urge to huff at the black-haired boy, Vivian stomped past him further into the game room. She needed to drown her anger in some fighting games. Violet eyes narrowed at the woman's retreating back before Mokuba walked back into the part of the room he recently exited.

His 'guests' appeared to be thoroughly enjoying themselves which made Mokuba feel the games were a success. Now he was more excited than ever to open their amusement park. If the prototypes were a hit the amusement park itself was going to be a blast!

Anzu poked her head out from the corner. "I thought I heard the door?"

Mokuba turned to the brunette smiling. "You did, it was Wong-san. Mutou-san and Jonouchi-san must still be eating or something. Anyways, Mazaki-san, there is something I want your opinion on." Nodding, Anzu followed the black-haired boy into a different room separate from the others. "I don't mean to sound stereotypical or even sexist but most female gamers seem to complain about games not set toward their interests and statistically speaking that's about half of our business so we need to rectify this situation."

"So... what you're saying is, you want my opinion on this game from a female's perspective?" Mokuba nodded enthusiastically. "Well, I am a female so I'll see what I can do."

"Great. Now its a virtual reality game and if you want to stop you just take the helmet off, okay?" Anzu eyed the lone pod seated in front of her.

"Okay..." Glancing back at the black-haired boy, the brunette nodded to herself before climbing into the pod and putting the helmet on before laying back.

As the green light turned on signaling the start of the game, Mokuba quietly walked out of the room – not that Anzu would be able to hear him anyway. His brother was so good at the creations of virtual reality games that it was quite scary. The black-haired boy quickly scribbled on a piece of paper and stuck it on the door before checking on the other visitors.

His brother was busy with Yugi and possibly Jonouchi as he wasn't here either so it was Mokuba's job to keep the others occupied enough to not be suspicious of their friends' disappearance. Mokuba had to admit the virtual reality chamber – which really needed a new name – wasn't exactly meant for Anzu's use but there were plenty more pods for Mokuba's friends to use.

"Kaiba-san!" Eyebrows furrowing, Mokuba fished a walkie-talkie out of his pocket. Like most other things his brother created this wasn't just an ordinary walkie-talkie, the item in question allowed face-to-face chat like a phone but still had the radioing aspects of a walkie-talkie ...it wasn't as advanced as some of the other things his brother came up with but even geniuses had mediocre days. "Kaiba-san, your friends are here."

"Send them in." The black-haired boy said seeing the brunet nodding on the walkie-talkie picture phone before the picture cut off.

Unlike his brother, Mokuba often had friends over and they usually tried out some of his brother's and even a few of his own inventions like they were going to do today. Ignoring the suspicious gazes of his caterer in the background, Mokuba headed to the front of the game room and opened the door in time to see the two girls waving at him.

So what if he was friends with older women? There was no harm in that, was there? "Mokuba-kun!" The brunette greeted hugging him tightly. Nope, there was no harm at all. "I'm so happy you called us here."

"Same here." The blonde remarked pushing up her glasses. "You just better have something good for us to try today Kaiba."

The brunette elbowed the smaller blonde. "Now, Beck, we should be happy just to be invited _exclusively _today~"

"You can be happy all you want Mana, _I'll_ be happy when we do something exciting." Huffing, the blonde folded her arms against her chest. "Wait.. I hear something, I thought were were the only ones here?"

"You are; as far as my guests are concerned." Mokuba had to admit he had doubts about allowing his friends and his brother's guests to come over on the same day but his brother assured him there wouldn't be a problem – but since the brunet disappeared his word really couldn't count for anything. "My brother invited some guests over but they shouldn't be in our way. Lets go."

Exchanging questionable glances, the two girls followed the black-haired boy deeper into the game room.

"Ah! Its Honda-san!" Mana exclaimed running toward the brunet. As he finished the game with Bakura, losing being the result, he glanced at the grinning girl beside him.

"Well I'll be. Its Mana-chan, what's up? What are you doing here?"

"I'm a friend of Mokuba-kun." The brunette jerked her thumb in the black-haired boy's direction. "We get invited over periodically to test out games. Oh~ Speaking of friends..." She grabbed the blonde pulling her in front. "This is Rebecca~"

"I-Its nice to meet you." The blonde said bowing. She was in Japan long enough to know the customs and Mana helped her out a great deal with it even though the brunette wasn't Japanese herself.

"Likewise." Honda bowed, "this is Bakura." The white-haired teen bowed. "And this is Shizuka-chan." The brunette bowed. Unlike her brother Shizuka wasn't much of a gamer – if one at all – so she stuck to cheering for her friends... or more accurately _his_ friends. "Oh right, guys this is Mana. She's a friend of Yugi and Jou who I became friends with too."

Pausing momentarily, Shizuka looked around the room frowning. "Speaking of nīsan and Yugi-kun ...where are they? And Anzu-chan?"

"Oh." The group turned to Mokuba. "Mazaki-san is trying out a new game for me... which reminds me. Why don't we try a group activity?"

"I thought we were supposed to exclusively try things?" Rebecca hissed.

"It still is exclusive." Mokuba retorted, "just with more people." The blonde pouted. "So, if you'd please. Follow me."

"Not so fast kid; I'm not moving until I know where Yugi and Jonouchi are."

Mokuba sighed. He hated things not being in his control because as a Kaiba it didn't happen very often; unfortunately there was an unforeseen ...development having one of his older friends be acquainted – probably even _friendly_ – with some of his brother's guests but that wasn't too big of an issue. If suspicions were being raised the shit was really going to hit the fan.

His brother specifically told him not to mess things up or else and Mokuba had no intention of finding out what the 'or else' meant. The brunet never let Mokuba be apart of anything before and if the black-haired boy didn't think of something quick he might ever be apart of anything again – which included the Kaiba Land Amusement Park!

Instead of playing the situation by ear, Mokuba figured it was best to work on his strengths ...particularly his powers of manipulation which was only second to his adorably innocent nature. He read about Honda's stubbornness before they were set to come over – it wasn't anywhere near as bad as Jonouchi's, who was possibly the very definition of stubborn, but it was still pretty terrible in his own right; birds of a feather did flock together after all. "Honestly, I have no idea where Mutou-san and Jonouchi-san are. I'm about fifty percent certain they're with my brother but I don't know what he's doing but I do know whatever it is he wouldn't want to be disturbed."

"You honestly expect me to believe that you don't know where your brother is or what he might be doing with both Yugi _and_ Jonouchi?"

"Whoa, get your mind out of the gutter Honda-san. What do you think they could be doing?" Mana asked waving him off.

Eyes widening, the brunet blushed. "My mind wasn't anywhere near the gutter until you just said something! So you should get _your mind_ out of the gutter!" Grumbling under his breath, Honda shoved his hands into his pockets. "Fine. We'll follow you... but you'd better give me the details when you get them."

Wow... that worked out better than Mokuba could have anticipated. He had to remember to thank Mana later. It might have been a blessing in disguise having them over today. "Of course. This way folks. You too Wong-san." Sighing heavily, the black-haired woman pushed herself off the wall and followed the group into a different section of the game room.

"Uh, Mokuba?" The black-haired boy paused turning toward the blonde. "If I remember correctly there isn't a bathroom here, do you mind if Mana and I catch up to you guys later?" As the black-haired boy nodded, the blonde grabbed the brunette before she could protest and they ran out of the game room down the hall to one of the many Kaiba manor bathrooms.

Once they were finished, a few minutes later, the blonde sighed in relief. "I thought I was going to pee myself."

"Alright Rebecca, you went to the bathroom twice before we left so I wanna know what's up?"

"Nothing's up. I'm just curious why Mokuba's brother would want to split up the group? You should be curious too, these are your friends after all?"

Mana shrugged. "Doesn't matter. We better... _hide_!" Rebecca barely had time to brace herself as Mana grabbed her hand and they hid against a wall watching three people walk by talking.

After they passed by Rebecca pushed herself off the wall clasping her hands together against her chest sighing heavily. "Who was _that_?" Mana rose an eyebrow. "He was a multicolor haired angel~! The spiky haired boy in the shorts? He was positively—"

"Unavailable." Rebecca gaped at her. "That was Mutou Yugi otherwise known as the international king of games but more importantly he is also my future husband Becks. We're only a few months apart which is a smaller age gap than the two and a half years between you two."

"He's fifteen?" Rebecca stared back in the direction they disappeared in before turning back to Mana. "B-But he's my size?"

"So, he's just small for his age. Anyway, Mahado-nīsan already helped me transfer into Domino High School so starting next week Yugi-sama and I will be much, _much_ closer."

"Domino High, huh?" Rebecca pulled out a notepad from her pocket and jotted that down before putting it back. "So... lets go back to the game room. Might as well see what's up."

— —

Jonouchi locked his hands behind his head as Isono opened the game room door motioning them to enter before he closed it behind them. Once the door closed Yugi turned to Jonouchi, "I wonder why Kaiba-kun wanted to show us his private game collection?"

"_Us_?"

"Alright, _me_. Either way, I can't imagine what that would do with anything whether he wants the 'king of games' title or not."

"Maybe he's bragging or trying to intimidate ya?" Violet eyes locked onto chocolate before the blond shrugged.

"If he was trying to intimidate me he should have showed me his trophy collection or something. I don't see how a several hundred games would intimidate me."

"Then he could have just been trying to stall for time because I don't see Honda or the others around." Frowning slightly, Yugi looked around the room. "Believe me Yug, I know a scheme when I see it. I've been around Hirutani for years..."

The door opened suddenly startling the two teens and the man of the hour walked out of it glancing over at the duo, "oh... I was wondering where you two were."

"Why did you show Yugi that room?" Jonouchi asked.

"Hm? Ah, well as one gamer to another I felt as though Mutou-kun would be the only one to truly appreciate its worth." Yugi glanced up at his best friend as those chocolate orbs narrowing at the brunet; Yugi knew _that_ look. That look signified the snapping of the very thin thread that was the blond's infamous temper. Jonouchi couldn't afford getting into another fight especially with a Kaiba and that was both literal and figurative. The blond was basically indebted to the brunet who paid his hospital bill (even though the whole thing was indirectly his fault to begin with); plus he had more money than Jonouchi made in an entire year. It was fortunate that their high school allowed students to work provided that it didn't interfere with their grades.

"I..." Yugi interrupted nudging Jonouchi, "I thought your collection was incredible Kaiba-kun and everything was in such amazing condition too. I never even heard of half of the games in that room."

"Is that so...?" Jonouchi and Yugi exchanged brief glances as the brunet tapped his chin. "I know! Perhaps you would like to play one with me? Then, maybe you can keep one as a symbol of our new friendship?"

"Uh, I don't know about _keeping _one but I'll certainly play with you." Yugi didn't even have to look in Jonouchi's direction to know the blond was questioning his decision. However, Yugi never denied a request to play a game. Then again, this entire thing was vague; the elder Kaiba brother could be inviting them to play dodgeball or some kind of physical game neither of them could do – Jonouchi because of his injuries and Yugi because of his ...less than stellar athletic abilities. Sure, in the years they befriended one another Jonouchi helped tone Yugi up as much as the smaller teen's body would allow but he heard the complaints of the brunet's classmates about his musculature.

It was very fortunate that physical education in Domino High School had such a heavy emphasis on group activities because Yugi didn't have to work very hard.

The duo wordlessly followed the brunet into a corner of the major room. "Have a seat and I'll be back with some games for us to play." Nodding to Yugi, he exited the room.

"This place is huge, we could always ditch him."

"No, because we'd be leaving Honda-kun and the others."

"So?" Yugi stared at him. "Come on Yug, aren't I more important than the rest of them?" The shorter teen blushed looking away. That was a very definition of a low blow; Yugi valued his friendship with Jonouchi far more than the others – he was sure the others had an inkling but weren't one hundred percent convinced. Fortunately, Yugi was an incredibly friendly creature so it was hard to tell when he favored one person when he treated everyone equally.

Yugi snapped out of his reverie feeling something warm on his cheek; he gasped as Jonouchis's mouth covered his own. It was a good thing he was wearing loose clothing because Yugi felt the heat coiling around in his body awakening his erection.

Fortunately, Jonouchi didn't lock lips with him too long (well not _fortunately_ but it wasn't necessarily bad). By the time they were done Yugi was panting slightly licking his slightly swollen lips. It wouldn't do either of them any good to turn into puddles of libidinous goo while they were guests in someone else's home.

Though his insides were loudly screaming at him to lunge toward the blond and continue where they left off Yugi stood his ground. All they did was kiss and he was already half hard; and the way Jonouchi kept licking his lips was not helping the situation at all. "Sorry man, ya just looked so cute I couldn't help myself."

"W-Well you should try. We don't know if Kaiba-kun has cameras or anything in here."

"Damn Yug, did ya think I was just gonna jump ya or something?" Blushing, the shorter teen adverted his eyes. Grinning, the blond pinched Yugi's cheeks. "There goes that perv in ya man."

"I'm not the one that just spontaneously kissed someone!"

"Well, would it help if I _told_ ya I would kiss ya before I did it?" Yugi's blush deepened and he nodded slowly. "Or ...maybe ya wanna be the one to kiss me?" Yugi's eyes widened as Jonouchi licked his lips again. Truthfully, he did want to be the one to initiate their brief make-out sessions but his hormones always had him frozen as soon as Jonouchi approached. Well, the first time he did it but Jonouchi had prompted him to so that wasn't really _him_ initiating anything.

It wasn't Yugi's fault the blond's lips felt so good against his. Or that the blond's hands slid around his body spreading warmth. Damn his hormones! Yugi shook his head clearing his perverted thoughts, "I'll do it ...but not here."

"Fine with me."

Yugi did not like the way the blond said that. But before he could question him about it the door opened and the brunet returned with several unmarked boxes. "Who's ready to play some games?"

"I'm always ready."

"If ya don't mind, I think I'll sit on the sidelines for this one. I'm feeling a bit lightheaded." Yugi attempted to hide the excitement in his eyes because he was often told he was too expressive but if Jou wasn't feeling one hundred percent that could be the perfect excuse to get the hell out of this place without seeming like he was running away or being rude.

Kaiba must have sensed this mental plot because what he said had Yugi mentally floored. "If you'd like we can reconvene in my room so that you can lay down." Blue eyes locked onto violet. "Unless you'd rather go home?"

Great, so the brunet thought he was being a bad guest? Fine. Yugi would show him. "No, I think we'll stay. Going in a room that Jonouchi can rest in sounds great Kaiba-kun, is it alright with you Jonouchi?"

"As long as I lay down I'm good. You?"

"I'm great." Mutou Yugi would be the best damn house guest the Kaiba manor had ever seen! "I'd hate to leave so suddenly but understandably I need to make sure Jonouchi is taken care of since he's the injured party here."

"Agreed. I'll have my staff look over him before we begin."

Jonouchi internally rolled his eyes and Yugi mentally facepalmed. Was the brunet mentally intercepting their best friend telepathy? Over the years, Jonouchi Katsuya and Mutou Yugi developed similar ways of thinking due to their constant companionship. With said thinking patterns they subconsciously gained the ability to read one another's thoughts which made them blurt out the same thing more often than not or even do the exact same thing in different locations. It was as though their friendship ascended to heights they couldn't even understand. The strangest part of all was that their 'telepathy' was one hundred percent accurate; in fact they were so good at it they didn't even need to speak_ or even move_ to do it.

But Kaiba wasn't taking no for an answer; Yugi wouldn't be surprised if he had everything Jonouchi might have needed in the room they were set to play in.

"Well, lead the way Kaiba-kun." The brunet nodded walking off with Jonouchi and Yugi hesitantly following suit.

"I told ya we should have ditched him." Jonouchi muttered locking his hands behind his head.

— —

"That was the greatest thing I have ever experienced!" Honda exclaimed slumping back in the chair.

"Who would have thought virtual reality could be so physically tiring?" Bakura asked sitting in the chair beside the brunet. "Oh! I thought Yugi and Jonouchi would be here... didn't Mokuba-kun say they'd show up?"

"He said probably, I honestly don't know what to believe anymore. My mind won't stop wandering with all the possibilities and that little runt isn't going to give us a straight answer since he's covering for his brother." The brunet sighed then sat up fully. "I suggest we take manners into our own hands."

"What do you mean?"

"We finished first so the others are still inside their chambers. We'll go and search for Yugi and Jonouchi in the meantime."

"What if we get caught? What then?"

"We'll make up an excuse, tell them we were looking for the bathroom or something. You're smarter than me man, you'll figure it out. Come on, before someone else shows up."

"Honda-kun, I have a bad feeling about this."

"And I have an even worse feeling about not doing something." Sighing, the white-haired teen reluctantly stood. "I've been around Jonouchi for years, I'm nothing if not stealthy."

"If you say so..." Bakura reluctantly followed Honda out of the game room and down the corner. "Where do we start looking first?"

"I'll go on instinct." Honda continued to run down the never-ending hall pausing in front of a door. "Here, its this one. I can feel it."

The white-haired teen couldn't help the look of uncertainty he was giving the brunet. Usually, when Jonouchi had an 'instinct' that the group went with it was either dead on or an explosive failure; if the blond's fifty-fifty accuracy rubbed off on Honda, Bakura knew this would be one of those failure moments. After all, his luck wasn't good enough to have two good Jonouchi guesses in one week – although this wouldn't really be a Jonouchi guess considering it wasn't Jonouchi.

Without warning, Honda pushed the double doors opened and his eyes widened seeing two half naked female maids on a table making out. Blushing furiously, he quickly pulled the doors in.

"Hey!" One of the clearly flustered, half dressed maids opened the door as Honda still had his hand on it. "I've never seen you two around before. Most of the guys know to knock first and where are your manners coming into a room like that?"

Still blushing, Honda bowed. "I'm sorry—"

Chuckling, the maid waved him off adjusting her clothing. "I'm just kidding kid. You one of Kaiba-sama's guests?" He nodded. "Okay, well I don't know where he is right now but don't tell him what you saw okay? He's got that whole fraternizing policy locked down. I'll do something for ya if you keep quiet~"

"N-No thanks." Finally, taking his hand off the door Honda sprinted down the hall with Bakura behind him.

"That was some amazing instincts Honda-kun." Bakura panted as they came to a halt a couple of hallways down. "This place goes on forever. I don't think we'll ever find civilization again."

"Don't be such an Anzu, this place isn't that big. I'll get us out of here."

"Honda-kun, if you don't mind my asking why are you putting on such a bravado? You're acting crazier than Jonouchi-kun and up until this moment I never thought it was physically possible!" Bakura frowned. "Okay, maybe you are not _as_ crazy as Jonouchi-kun but you're definitely close to it."

"You know, I've been around Jonouchi for most of my life – how do you know I'm not the crazy one rubbing off on him?"

"Well, that is a possibility but for Jonouchi-kun his behavior flows naturally. There is no doubt that you two have rubbed off on one another but you... you seem like your forcing yourself in Jonouchi's absence."

Honda sighed, "sorry if it seems that way but that's crazy. I-I can't even explain how weird that is man." The brunet paused, "hey... did you hear that?" Bakura shook his head. "I can spot Jonouchi's voice from a crowd." Honda pointed down the hall, "this way. Trust me."

Despite still being plagued with uncertainty, Bakura complied following the brunet once again. He seemed more sure this time than before so why not. They continued to walk down the hall pausing at the corner glancing around it spotting Yugi and Jonouchi walking. Before Honda could open his mouth Bakura covered it.

The brunet began his muffled protest stopping when he saw Kaiba Seto coming out of a room closing the door behind him. "Sorry to keep you waiting." He said as he caught up to them. "Our destination is this way gentlemen." As the duo stopped, the brunet took the opportunity to walk ahead. Jonouchi and Yugi frowned staring at one another before walking behind their host.

Bakura was about to uncover Honda's mouth when he heard Jonouchi speak. "I hope we can visit the game room before we have to go."

"Of course, there will be plenty of time for that." The brunet opened another door allowing Yugi and Jonouchi to enter. Before Kaiba closed the door the same blue-haired man from earlier popped up out of nowhere. The brunet whispered something into his ear then sent him on his way closing the door behind him.

Bakura and Honda stood there silently for a moment before Honda took Bakura's hand off his mouth. "That son of a— what the hell is he doing to them?"

"Well Honda-kun, Yugi-kun is the king of games so perhaps he's challenging him to some kind of game? He would have the home field advantage in this situation." Bakura frowned tapping his chin. "Then again, I don't think Kaiba would use underhanded tactics to challenge him for the title."

Honda groaned. "So what are we supposed to do? Just let whatever's going on happen?" Bakura nodded and the brunet sighed. "Fine! Lets try and enjoy the rest of our time here before we get banned or something."

Bakura sent one last glance to the closed door before following the irate brunet mumbling to himself.

Meanwhile, inside the aforementioned room Jonouchi sneezed rubbing his nose. "Excuse me..." He said sniffling.

Yugi glanced at the brunet before elbowing the blond. "Using that as an excuse? Or is someone talking about you?"

"I don't know, maybe both."

"Are you alright?" Kaiba asked feeling the blond's forehead with one hand while feeling his own forehead with the other. "You don't appear to have a fever and my doctor said you were alright."

"I'm good." Jonouchi waved him off, "really, I am. Its probably just allergies or something." Yugi eyed him suspiciously. "What games are ya two gonna play?"

"I figured that you were both guests so I'd have both of you playing." Yugi and Jonouchi exchanged glances. "Not to worry, its nothing strenuous so Jonouchi-kun is free to play as well." The brunet gestured to the three chairs beside them. "I'm sure you two are familiar with Duel Monsters, right?"

"Ah hell yeah we are. Our principal makes the cards. We have classes dedicated to dueling. Wait ya should know that already... we go to the same school."

"Well, there are lots of things going on in that school most people know nothing about. For example, I am working with Pegasus-san on some new technology for duel monsters... it will make the creatures more realistic." Jonouchi whistled appreciatively. "You two take the first two chairs and I'll take the third, we'll have a two on one match."

"That hardly seems fair considering Yug is the king of games." Yugi elbowed the blond who hissed in pain.

"I suppose that's true." Kaiba chuckled startling his guests. "What should we do then? Perhaps Jonouchi-kun and I can take on the king, if he feels we are worthy."

Yugi chuckled nervously. It would be rude to refuse... but that tone had implications Yugi wasn't clear of which made him want to refuse all the more. Biting his lip he nodded. "Lets duel then." He switched seats with the brunet.

"We'll get forty cards from the card shop to use in our decks; sixty is the maximum but forty is the minimum and recommended number. Fifteen cards are allowed in the extra deck for synchro monsters, xyz or fusion monsters." As Yugi nodded in understanding Jonouchi openly gaped at the brunet. "Don't worry, I'll fill you in as we go along." The blond sighed in relief.

"Uh, by the way..." Jonouchi began, "what card shop?" The brunet snapped his finger and three men appeared out of nowhere with silver briefcases they opened them revealing the cards inside. The blond whistled in appreciation. Now _that _was service. Maybe Kaiba would be willing to allow them to take one of these guys home as a parting gift.

"You're free to keep the cards you choose, I have several copies of each anyway."

"You're the best Kaiba-kun~" Jonouchi cooed, "is there anything money can't buy?" He leaned forward into the briefcase taking out several cards at a time examining them. "From what grandpa told us there are monsters, magic cards and trap cards right? So I'll need a deck filled with all."

Yugi took a more calm approach to choosing his cards. He looked at the stats, special abilities, type, attribute, attack points, defense points – everything. Yugi's grandfather was quite the duelist back in the days so he taught his grandson everything he knew – but Yugi wasn't about to tell Kaiba that. He didn't have a reason to hide it or anything but he didn't have much of a reason to talk about it either.

The Kame Game Shop sold duel monsters cards too but this collection was far more extensive. Yugi just had to make sure to omit that part when he told his grandfather about what happened; the old man was still upset at him for hanging out Otogi's game shop that was right next door to theirs.

"Gentlemen, have you finished with your selections?" He received two enthusiastic nods as a reply. "Then lets get this duel started."

A knock on the door had the brunet sighing. "Enter." It figured when things were getting good he would get interrupted. Just his fucking luck.

"Kaiba-sama!" The two men bowed. "We have a bit of a ...situation." The men gulped as their boss glared at them. The damn building better had been on fire for them to interrupt him! He stood startling his bodyguards.

The brunet turned to his guests staring at him. "I suppose we'll have to take a rain check on that duel." He bowed. "Just take your time and Isono will show you to the game room." They nodded as Kaiba briskly exited the room.

As the brunet bodyguard exited with his boss Kaiba grabbed him by the collar slamming him against the wall. "What the hell is the situation and couldn't it wait until I was done?" The man shook his head and he was released. "Show me."

Yugi and Jonouchi glanced at one another before shrugging taking up the cards the brunet offered them. "Check it out Yug, we got our very own duel monsters cards. I'm ...words can't even express how I feel! Hey, don't ya sell these at your shop?"

"Yeah..." The shorter teen trailed off staring the cards in his hand. "I guess I can fix my old deck to incorporate some of the new cards with my own cards."

"That's the spirit." The blond said standing. "Lets check out that game room now."

While Yugi and Jonouchi were heading to the game room with Isono, Kaiba and his other bodyguard were walking down the seemingly endless corridor to the manor's security room. The bodyguard waited outside as Kaiba slid into his custom made seat. Isono was the only bodyguard allowed in the security room since he, so far, was the only one the brunet could trust but as the blue-haired man was busy right now Kaiba would have to go it alone for now.

He searched the videos seeing two of his guests wandering the halls. That couldn't be the urgency could it? Because if it was there were a few former guards he was going to have a word with. It was typical of them to bother him with stupidity when he was enjoying himself. To make matters worse they made Isono deliver the news to him personally knowing full well the man was the most competent of them all and the one their boss lost his temper with the least.

The king of games was far cuter than anyone could have ever explained. The way he furrowed his eyebrows when he selected his cards or the way he shivered slightly with uncertainty. The brunet felt himself shudder with excitement. Seeing how cute Yugi was made the brunet not only want to defeat him and take the title but to break him entirely. Break that whole _can do, super happy, overly friendly_ spirit of his.

The brunet licked his lips savoring that mental image of Mutou Yugi's breakdown. It was that image alone that made Kaiba Seto palm the front of his pants caressing his forming erection. The fifteen-year-old contemplated handling his business in the security room but what he saw almost immediately deflated any oncoming erection he could have had.

Blue eyes narrowed at the supposed 'urgency' over the monitor that he was called in for. Mokuba apparently got carried away with the pods, again, and a couple of their guests seemed to be stuck in reality and virtual limbo. He really needed to work the glitch out on that thing. Cracking his knuckles, he entered the code freeing up the pods having the three girls sigh in relief stretching. This happened all the time, it was hardly considered an emergency – no matter he was getting ahead of himself anyway. The slower it took to break Yugi the better. He originally intended on just beating him and calling it a day but seeing the shorter boy eat and take in all his little mannerisms made the brunet want to rethink his strategy.

Sighing, he leaned back in his seat; then sat up fully at another monitor. One of his bodyguards was suspiciously exiting a room with a sack over his shoulders. Did he not realize there were cameras everywhere? Oh, he probably didn't because they were hidden. But he had to be pretty stupid to not suspect a place this big wouldn't be without a few hundred cameras, there were that many bodyguards after all. No matter, one fired former bodyguard wasn't going to set him back that much and it still wasn't worth interrupting him.

A blinking light caught the brunet's attention and he slid the chair over to it. Isono was not only the most trusted and capable security guard but he was the only one that actually got the brunet sadistic tendencies and all. Everything recorded on the monitors was there for a full twenty four hours then getting automatically deleted _unless_ someone, either himself or the blue-haired man or occasionally Mokuba, saw something they wanted to save which was indicated with the light.

He typed in the password looking at the monitor. Seeing what transpired made his eyes widen. He rewound the footage watching it again in slow motion.

"_We could always ditch him."_ He heard the blond say grinning.

"_No because we'd be leaving Honda-kun and the others."_

"_So? Come on Yug, aren't I more important than the rest of them?_" It was at the pause that had the brunet inch closer to the monitor. The blond leaned forward kissing the shorter teen on the cheek before he captured his lips in a heated albeit brief kiss that had Yugi panting slightly and licking his lips when it was done.

The brunet bit his lip trying to discern what the hell feeling his mind was supplying his body with. From what he managed to make out it seemed as though his dominance of Yugi went farther than just a couple of games. He wanted total domination of the multicolor haired teen but that wouldn't happen as long as the blond was paling around him. At the same time getting the blond too was an added bonus. The brunet couldn't deny he enjoyed seeing Jonouchi pant slightly licking his lips or that fucking mischievously sexy grin he kept gracing the camera with. And he did sneak a couple of peeks at the blond's half naked body in the hospital room. He was paying for him to get released so he damn well better get as much of the opportunity as possible.

"_We don't know if Kaiba-kun has cameras or anything in here."_ He heard Yugi say remembering he didn't stop the tape. It might have been a guess but it was an accurate one; Yugi wasn't the king of games for nothing he was incredibly perceptive. There was a far more cunning individual beneath that innocent exterior. Breaking Yugi would be harder than he expected but it would be well worth it.

"_Damn Yug, did ya think I was just gonna jump ya or something?"_ Jonouchi replied grinning and the brunet stopped the tape. He couldn't possibly delete that so he saved it on the flash drive, he constantly had on his person at all times, then deleted it from the camera so only he would be able to view that seductively flushed expression over and over again.

With the flash drive tucked back securely in his inner shirt pocket, he walked back outside the hall. As expected, Isono was waiting instead of that other security/bodyguard. None of them were any good at their job that their boss didn't even bother attempting to learn their names – they were incompetent and above all else _replaceable_. The blue-haired man bowed. "Jonouchi-kun and Mutou-kun have successfully entered the game room with no interruptions; their other friends are inside as well." He slowly stood. "We have dealt with Mokuba-sama and the pods glitch."

Damn, he moved fast – as the years went by the man got more and more efficient. The brunet would be screwed if he decided to retire. "And of our ex-employee?"

"Terminated and disposed of." Kaiba nodded. He silently communicated to his right-hand man through the buttons he usually wore on his collar or some other kind of concealed communication device.

"Good, very good. You may take the evening off Isono. I believe I will join our guests before they leave." Nodding, the man bowed again. "I will see you in the morning."

Isono bowed again, "good night Kaiba-sama." He walked off heading to his room. One of the perks of being the head security/bodyguard, right-hand man and most trusted employee in the building made Isono have his own room almost as luxurious as his boss'. Good thing he didn't have a family or he'd never want to go back to them living here.

The brunet briskly made his way to the game room seeing Yugi and Jonouchi together at a table conversing out of his peripheral vision; he walked past them – at least he intended to but they stood running over to him.

"Did you take care of your problem?" Yugi asked tilting his head to the left in an incredibly adorable manner. The brunet normally abhorred cute things, safe for Mokuba who wasn't cute all the time, but Yugi was tugging the hell out of his heartstrings with very little remorse.

"Oi, Kaiba?" Jonouchi waved a hand in front of the brunet's face shrugging when it was met with no response. "What do we do?" He whispered to Yugi who shrugged his reply.

The brunet shook out of his stupor startling his guests. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You spaced out." Yugi said still wearing that damn expression. Apparently he read the brunet's mind furrowing his eyebrows now which was only even cuter. Kaiba swore he saw pink and white bubbles forming in the background above Yugi's head but he could have been suffering from a mild delirium. "Uh..." He turned to Jonouchi who shook his head. Yugi was used to the blond and even Bakura spacing out occasionally but although he and the brunet barely spoke before yesterday he appeared to be composed the times he wasn't seemingly being insane. "We're going to go now." The shorter teen grabbed Jonouchi's hand walking into the room looking over his shoulder at the brunet still standing in the room.

"Ya think he's overworked?"

"Definitely."

The brunet blinked realizing he was alone in the room. He knew Jonouchi and Yugi were talking to him but he couldn't hear anything – he was focusing on the tempting lips of Mutou Yugi moving. He thoroughly needed to get his head examined this wasn't the way for a young professional businessman to operate.

He was Kaiba fucking Seto for crying out loud! He shook his head attempting to clear it thoroughly. This shouldn't be as hard as he was making it out to be. Nodding to himself, he walked further into the game room seeing Yugi and Jonouchi once again side by side only this time they were both seated behind one of those driving game chairs.

The way the blond's tongue was hanging out of the side of his mouth was a bit distracting but the brunet had to focus on whatever the hell he was supposed to do.

"Ah! Aniki!" Mokuba exclaimed walking over to him. "The pods got stuck again." The elder Kaiba sibling had no idea why Mokuba was telling him this knowing full well he already knew – perhaps he was putting on a front for his guests. Because he had to know his brother knew already; while Isono was an employee of both brothers it was the elder Kaiba he was around more.

"Some of the guards freed us though. Anyway, this is Mana and Rebecca." Both girls bowed and the brunet bowed back. He never saw these girls before and Mokuba was always bringing over older women – these two didn't seem as old as the girls he usually brought but they definitely weren't twelve ...well, maybe the blonde was.

Kaiba supposed Mokuba was at that experimentally hormonal age where he could still snuggle up against older women and not be considered some kind of pervert.

"Thank you for taking care of my little brother."

"Its him that's taking care of us." Rebecca replied. The brunet recognized that girl... or at least her face. She was in the news all the time; some kind of American International Genius or something.

But her identity didn't matter right now, the one thing Seto was focused on was Yugi – well the only thing aside from running his company and taking care of his brother.

"So... nīsan." Mokuba hopped over to him, "is everyone ready for dinner?" The brunet rose an eyebrow.

"Ah! There you are Kaiba-kun." Anzu came around the corner from one of the rooms bowing. "I'd hate to be a rude guest but I really need to get home or my parents will flip. I'm sure the others are in the same boat." The siblings exchanged questionable glances. Seto knew Mokuba did research on his guests but he didn't know what he found because he didn't necessarily approve of his less than moral methods.

"Well then." Mokuba said, "gather everyone and we'll have a limo take you back." Anzu nodded heading back the way she came. Sighing, he turned to his brother. "I"m not entirely buying the whole others bit but we can't keep them cooped up here forever. I'll send Mana and Rebecca back too."

— —

Surprisingly, after dinner at the Kaiba manor everyone was taken home. No more games, no tours, nothing else. Well, Jonouchi was taken to Yugi's place but rather than stay there he went to his own place. Yugi figured the blond would sleep over but he didn't – it was a little disheartening because Yugi wanted to continue where they left off.

The fifteen-year-old sighed looking up at his ceiling. Just thinking about Jonouchi made his boxers tighten... _boxers_. Yugi sprang up from under his covers. "I forgot to do laundry!" He facepalmed before creeping out of bed.

It was only ten o'clock so his mother and grandfather were still awake meaning he didn't have to worry about making noise. Yugi gathered up all of his undergarments, including the one he was wearing now, along with some other articles of clothing and made a mad dash to the laundry room.

Though his mother took care of the laundry for him he wasn't completely clueless when it came to doing it. Anticipating some sort of rebellion in the near future, Yugi asked his mother how to use the machine _years_ ago and often watched her to make sure he could do it himself.

So he wasn't walking around completely bottomless, he kept his pants on as he did the laundry. For his second load he'd wash his sheets which couldn't be that clean considering the state his boxers were in.

The fifteen-year-old went back to his room to get his sheets bringing them to the laundry room.

"Why are you doing laundry now?" His mother asked leaning over his shoulder.

"I-I forgot to do it earlier and I figured now would be a good time?" The brunette shook her head but didn't comment further as she walked off. Yugi sighed in relief expecting her to press the matter further but was more than grateful when she just left. She was either going to drop the subject or hit him again when he least expected it.

But Yugi had better things to worry about than his mother's spontaneity, he had clothing and linens to wash.

It was twelve thirty by the time he finished everything. Who would have thought doing laundry would be so time consuming? Usually when his mother did it clothes got cleaner a lot faster. Upon closer inspection, Yugi noticed his clothing were brighter than their first purchase and that fresh laundry smell was positively addicting.

Yugi happily sniffed his clean laundry as he went back to his room. It didn't make sense to put on a clean pair of boxers just to soil them with his perverted fantasies so he opted against putting on boxers – besides, prior to the sequential wet dream montage, he usually slept without underwear. In the long run it might have made more sense to just forgo underwear in general so that's what the teen did.

After putting away all of his boxers and other articles of clothing, Yugi rapidly made his bed then snuggled into the soft linens drifting off to dreamland.

_Beep, Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep, Beep!_

Violet eyes snapped open at the obnoxious and incessant screeching of that stupid alarm clock. Sighing, Yugi didn't bother moving his body as he knocked the thing off the nightstand it somehow managing to hit the sleep button shutting off the alarm.

Yawning, the fifteen-year-old slowly rose from his bed looking down at the tent in his pants. Furrowing his eyebrows, Yugi palmed his confirmed semi hard-on. Before he got the opportunity to stroke himself to full mast his cellphone rang.

Shuffling around the bed, he found the phone he couldn't remember stuffing it in the mattress. Sick of the damn ringing he picked up without even looking at hit nearly freezing hearing Jonouchi's voice on the other line.

"—_gi? Yug? Ya there?"_

"Huh? Y-Yeah, I'm here. G-Good morning."

"'_Mornin. Say, ya okay? Ya sound a little strained."_ Yugi gulped; the blond had no idea how strained he truly was. In fact, hearing Jonouchi's voice was resonating through his body turning him on even more. Subconsciously, the fifteen-year-old's free hand slipped down to his erection palming it. _"Wanna catch a movie with me or something?"_

Licking his lips, Yugi switched hands. "Sure." Though he was right-handed, Yugi always found his left hand had a stronger grip ergo a better choice to masturbate with.

"_Hold on, someone else is calling me."_ As he was put on hold, Yugi sped up his movement frantically rubbing his clothed erection. _"Fuck, uh, looks like Mai's coming along too." _Jonouchi said suddenly returning on the other line.

It was a surprise, to say the least, but it wasn't enough to have the fifteen-year-old's erection droop. "T-That's fine."

There was an unsettling pause on the other side of the phone before Yugi heard Jonouchi sigh. _"Yug, ya aren't... jerking off now are ya?"_ The blond chuckled, _"did ya just wake up?"_

"N-No and I'm not jerking off either." It technically wasn't a lie since he stilled his movements with the blond's accusation.

"_Alright, so what time do ya wanna head out?"_

Yugi glanced at the clock on his phone. To ensure he didn't oversleep on any school day, Yugi set his alarm everyday even though there was no school on Sunday. Today _was_ Sunday so the fifteen-year-old usually just laid in bed or did some menial task to pass the time. "Uh, I guess ten is fine."

"_Cool, I— dammit not again. Hold on man."_ Yugi furrowed his eyebrows at the silence on the other side. This time the silence was a lot briefer as Jonouchi came back on the line sighing. _"Yug? Yeah... looks like we're gonna have a group movie day. Honda, Anzu, even freaking Otogi called me!" _

"Y-You know we could always do something else?" As soon as the words left his lips Yugi regretted them. He would have facepalmed but his other hand was occupied resting on his pants. He could just feel Jonouchi grinning at him.

"_Ah, I see... if ya want ya can come over? Then maybe we can head to the movies or ya can sleep over?"_

Yugi had to ponder that for a moment. Sleeping in the same bed as Jonouchi was a far better option than rushing out of the house to hang out with him for a few hours; then again it would be pretty stupid of him to sleep beside the object of his relentless fantasies. On the other hand, he couldn't pass up an opportunity to cuddle with his best friend sexual or otherwise. "I'll sleep over."

"_Sweet. I will see you at ten then~"_

"Okay, see you." Yugi sighed in relief as he hung up the phone. It was a while since he slept over at Jonouchi's so he had to make the most of this opportunity. Springing out of bed, Yugi scrambled over to his closet picking out his outfit to wear along with some pajamas to have at Jonouchi's place. Good thing he decided to do his laundry last night because his clothes smelt amazing. Sure, like Jonouchi had clothes here, Yugi had clothes at his place but he wanted to wear something else. Perhaps he subconsciously wanted to impress the blond with his clothes? Speaking of clothes, he probably should bring more clothing to keep over there. So he folded a couple of clothes and some underwear into his favorite backpack.

The fifteen-year-old hopped in the shower and took care of his erection. Once he was clean and flaccid, he got dressed in a white t-shirt with a short-sleeved black hooded jacket and a pair of black shorts. Underneath his clothes was a gray undershirt and a pair of navy boxerbriefs.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Yugi glanced at his reflection in the bathroom mirror nodding in approval. He wanted to wear something nice and at the same time not seem as though he was trying too hard and that was exactly what he accomplished.

He opened his door surprised seeing his mother standing there. "Ah! Good morning... I'm heading out then sleeping over at Jonouchi's. Love ya, bye—"

"Not so fast young man." The fifteen-year-old gulped freezing. "Will you be out all day?"

"Uh... I don't think so? Is something the matter?"

"No, I was just curious." The woman folded her arms over her chest. "Your grandfather and I need to go on a business trip for the shop." Yugi rose an eyebrow. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? "We're leaving tomorrow and should be back before your birthday – I'd hate to have you here by yourself so do you think you can stay with Katsuya-kun for the next two weeks?"

Yugi's jaw dropped. Not only did he forget his birthday was a few days away but his mother unwittingly gave him permission to fool around with his best friend _for two full weeks_! "I'll ask him. What time tomorrow are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning, in fact we're probably going to leave tonight to beat traffic. I know its short notice but this trip is calling for all gaming shops. They're supposed to be unveiling some sort of new product that they want all stores to sell or something." The woman shrugged, "whatever. We'll be sure to bring you back something." Despite her tough exterior, the brunette hugged her son kissing him on the forehead. "Just call if you need anything, okay?" The teen nodded as his mother walked down the hall.

Okay, so he was going to stay with Jonouchi for at least two weeks? Fine, that wasn't a problem – theoretically. If both his mother and grandfather were leaving then the card shop would be closed since they didn't want him running it by himself but that wasn't to say they'd lock him out of his own home or anything. At least not this time.

Yugi sighed stepping back into his room. He'd need a lot more clothing if he was set to sleep over for so long. Nodding to himself, Yugi trudged back over to his closet and folded some more things into his bag. He hoisted it over his shoulder on sort of a test run seeing if it was too heavy but surprisingly it wasn't.

Making sure he had everything necessary for an impromptu extended sleep over, Yugi checked his room once more then hugged his mother and grandfather wishing them a safe trip before departing.

So the teen took the bus heading to Jonouchi's house, even if the blond wasn't home Yugi had a spare key so he'd just drop his stuff off and answer questions afterwords. "Yugi-kun!" That was unexpected. Yugi turned around seeing Mai running toward him. Pausing, Yugi braced himself for the anticipated bear hug Mai was always giving him – with the exception of when they were in the hospital two days ago. "So I call Jonouchi to check up on him and he tells me you two are going to the movies so I invited myself along and he acted as though he didn't want me there. What nerve right?" Yugi chuckled awkwardly. He wouldn't get his hopes up thinking Jonouchi wanted to spend time alone with him to do things of a perverted nature – even before they kissed they were hanging out by themselves just bullshitting. The blonde huffed, "anyway. How are you? What's with the bag?"

"Uh, long story."

"Are you going to Jonouchi's place? I've never been."

"U-Uh..." Yugi's eyes darted around for a distraction. He wasn't sure if Jonouchi would want company... thinking about it he wasn't sure he should just drop by. Sure, his family didn't consider the blond as company when he slept over but he had no idea how Jonouchi felt about it.

The fifteen-year-old gulped as Mai came closer leaning down so that her cleavage was directly in Yugi's line of sight. "Let me guess, you haven't been there either?" The blonde sighed standing upright. "I don't know why he's so secretive of his place because its in a 'bad' neighborhood."

Huffing, the blonde whipped out her cellphone dialing the blond's number. "Jonouchi Katsuya you have ten minutes to come to the train station before I send a warrant out for your ass!"

"_Did ya bother turning around before making death threats?"_ Mai gaped as she was hung up on then turned around seeing the teen heading toward them with his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Yo."

"Don't _yo _me." Violet eyes narrowed.

"Hey Yug, what's with the bag?"

"Long story." Mai replied, "now... shall we go?" She linked arms with both teens dragging them toward the station. Yugi had no idea how Mai knew that Jonouchi lived in this neighborhood – unless she was on the other bus or even the train that passed by seeing him and getting off hopeful that she'd find out where Jonouchi lived through his best friend. But if Mai figured he didn't know he wasn't about to correct her into thinking otherwise. It wasn't really lying so much as it was not telling the whole truth unnecessarily.

The train ride was silent for the trio and by the time they got to the movie theater Honda, Anzu, Bakura and Otogi were there waving. "Sorry, did you guys wait long?"

"Nope. Just got here." Anzu replied, "what's with the bag Yugi?"

"Uh... long story. So, what movie are we going to see?"

"Something long." Honda replied yawning. "I need a nap."

"No one told you to come." Otogi commented rolling his eyes at the brunet's glare. "I say we see a cliché romance flick~" The black-haired teen clapped his hand together, "better yet. We see a horror film!"

Jonouchi paled as everyone else, safe for Yugi, cheered. "W-Why can't we just see a comedy or something?"

"Please." Otogi shrugged shaking his head. "Who goes to the movies to see comedies? Its—"

"This ain't some kind of date night. Why the hell would we want to see a horror film?"

"What does it matter? The majority rules." Otogi rose an eyebrow. "What's wrong Jonouchi-kun... y-you're not _afraid_ are you?" Yugi's eyes widened as the blond defensively shook his head but didn't speak probably not trusting his voice. He was the only one that knew of Jonouchi's fear regarding all things horror. Hell, he just found out about it.

"Don't forget you still owe _me_ for giving you some of my blood the other day." The blond sighed folding his arms over his chest. "Then its settled, lets get the tickets. I'll pay for you Jonouchi."

"Why so I can owe ya more?"

"If that's what you want." The blond's eyes narrowed as Otogi walked off. "I'll pay for you too Yugi-kun~"

The blond groaned surprised when he felt a hand squeeze his. "Don't worry." Yugi whispered smiling. Jonouchi couldn't help but smile back.

"Alright troops, lets go~" Otogi gave Yugi and Jonouchi their tickets then they, in turn, gave it to the attendee who returned the stubs. "Ooh, we should get some food while we're at it."

"I'll help." Anzu offered. "What does everyone want?"

"I'll come too." Mai said with a huff, "gotta see all the available options."

"I'll help out too." Bakura said.

"Wait a minute. Why are you all going to get food? It doesn't make any sense!" Honda exclaimed sighing when Mai, Anzu, Bakura and Otogi glanced at him. "Fine, have it your way. I'm going inside, get me whatever."

"You should go inside too Jonouchi, you just got out of the hospital yesterday so you're in no condition to carry things." Shrugging, the blond complied bringing Yugi along with him.

Inside the theater, the brunet had his feet propped against the seat in front of him and his arms were folded over his chest. "Hey Mr. Grumpy Pants~" The blond teased sitting to his left. "You're a real prick when sleep deprived aren't ya?" Jonouchi poked Honda in the cheek until the brunet slapped the offending hand away.

"Why aren't _you_ helping? You're always in a helping mood."

"True enough but they said I'm in 'no condition to carry things' who was I to say no?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Good. I'm hardheaded, remember? An injury like this won't keep me down for too long." A loud buzzing had Honda and Jonouchi turn to the left staring at Yugi.

"M-My cellphone." He took his bag off pulling the phone out of his pocket. "I'll be outside..." Without waiting for a response the smaller teen exited the room. In all honesty, Honda didn't even know he was there.

"Ah, that reminds me. I got a spare key for my place..." Honda's eyes widened as Jonouchi dug into his pocket dangling the sparkling object in front of the brunet. "This is for you~"

Honda accepted the item in question glancing down at it. His mind was reeling getting the key to Jonouchi's elusive apartment but at the same time it pissed him off to know Jonouchi lived there for a month and he was only _now_ getting the key to a place he had no idea where it was. "Are you sure its not for Yugi?" He bit out. He knew the little urchin had the key. He had the key to all Jonouchi's apartments.

After his mother helped him move out from his father's place she helped pay the first month for his apartment. That was three years ago; Jonouchi had four different apartments after that and Honda visited each of them but this was the first time he got a key to any. So, if his basic mathematics skills were correct, this was Jonouchi's fifth apartment over the span of three years. At least five that Honda knew of.

"Nah, he's already got a key." Well, that only served to piss the brunet off further. _Of course_ Yugi had the key! "I meant to give it to ya two weeks ago but I had to pay my bills and shit. Then I was gonna give it to ya on Friday but ...well—"

"I understand." Honda sighed, "thanks man. So..." The brunet looked down at the key, "are you going to show me how to get to your place?"

"Yeah. Naturally ya idiot. Oh, wait a sec. I forgot this is my new, new key. I need to give Yug one too." Honda gaped as the key was snatched from him. "I'll make another copy after the movie."

"Why can't you just make a copy of your original key to give to Yugi?"

"No shit, that's what I'm gonna do. I just can't give ya one and not him."

"You've given him other keys and not me, right? Why can't I get the key first this time?" The blond contemplated for a while before nodding to himself giving the key back to the brunet who mentally sighed in relief. He could swear Jonouchi was going to find some kind of loophole in their argument but thankfully he didn't. "Wait! What happened to your old place?"

"Moved out yesterday – I gotta get the key back from Yugi before I get charged."

"What kind of shitty places are you living in that have such short leases? Or are you getting kicked out of your apartments?"

"Neither." Honda rose an eyebrow. "My last apartment caught on fire." The brunet's jaw dropped. "Yeah, I know. Good thing I wasn't there with the accident. The owner was real nice to gave me all my money back since it wasn't my fault plus he probably felt sorry for me~"

"What do you mean it wasn't your fault? Aside from you not being there?"

"It was an 'electrical fire' some of the wires that the fix it guy was supposed to fix but never did tangled and whatever so—"

"Wait, did your stuff burn down?"

"Most of it. I gotta go clothes shopping ...then buy Yugi some new clothes too. It wasn't nothing too major – got repaid for damages and shit."

"Okay, so what happened to the apartment before that?"

"Temporary."

"What about the one before that?"

"Another temporary."

"Uh, the apartment before that one."

"Quarantine. Which led to the temporary apartments."

"Then the apartment before that?"

"My lease was up."

"Is that all?"

"Nope. But you're getting close. See, I had two separate apartments that I lived in until the least went up. After the second one ended I went to the apartment that was quarantine after a few months which gave me the temporary apartment for a few days which gave me _another _temporary apartment for another couple of days and finally giving me my apartment that burned down a couple of months later." Jonouchi shrugged oblivious to Honda's shocked expression. "I don't know, I like my new place. Spent most of yesterday moving after coming back from Kaiba's, glad I don't have a lot of stuff that wasn't destroyed. Precious memories and stuff survived – but I keep a lot of my 'valuables' at Yugi's place and I'm glad now." Honda's right eye twitched at that statement. His _valuables_ were at Yugi's place? Even though it wasn't surprising it was still upsetting. The only 'valuable' thing he ever left at the brunet's place was an oversized skateboard from third grade!

"S-Sorry." Yugi said slipping back into his seat. "My mom called to tell me they made it safely in their hotel."

"Your mom's gone?" Yugi nodded at the brunet even though the shorter teen was looking down as he spoke.

"She and gramps went on a trip for two weeks; I probably should have asked beforehand but can I stay over for that long? She doesn't want me home alone although I'm not sure why."

"Shit Yug, you're welcome anytime man." Jonouchi grinned, "but ...I changed apartments and neighborhoods so when we're all done here I'll take ya and Honda there." Yugi nodded. "Right... that reminds me, most of your stuff sort of burned with my apartment. Also, I'm gonna need the old key back."

"What?"

The blond chuckled nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "My old place caught on fire when I was in the hospital – I'll pay ya back—"

"I don't care about my stuff Jou! I'm just glad you weren't in the apartment when it caught on fire. But how did it catch on fire in the first place?"

"An electrical fire." Honda replied leaning back in his seat.

"Oh... and if you need the key here it is." Yugi took the key off its key cap then off the carabiner giving it to Jonouchi. The key cap in question was some kind of cute mythical creature – maybe a unicorn or a griffin or something; Yugi was known for being into cute shit it fit with his image so he probably milked it for all it was worth.

"We can stop by the place we went last time to get ya a new key." Yugi nodded beaming brightly. Honda had to squint with how bright the shorter teen was smiling. He saw Yugi smile before but never with such intensity.

"We're back with food~" Otogi announced taking his seat next to Yugi. "You two share plates at lunch so we figured we'd just get you a huge popcorn tin and be done with it."

"Fine with me." Yugi and Jonouchi both exclaimed thanking the black-haired teen before taking their snack.

"I don't understand how you guys can sit all the way up here. I hate sitting at the back of a movie theater, I'm going to sit in the front. Anyone wanna join me?"

"Can't ya just move one row up?" Blue eyes narrowed. "Come on Anzu, I enjoy the back. I'm the jerk that throws popcorn and makes rude noises in the boring parts so I need a quick escape." The brunette rolled her eyes. "And Yug's my wingman." The teen in question blushed slightly as Jonouchi slung an arm around his shoulder.

"Fine, I'll sit one row in front but next time we're all going to the front." Anzu, Bakura, Otogi and Mai all sat directly in front of Yugi, Jonouchi and Honda. Well the seat in front of Honda was clear since his feet were still propped on the seat.

The brunet glanced out of the corner of his eye at Yugi and Jonouchi whispering to one another as the previews came on. The two of them had a huge popcorn bucket that was on Jonouchi's lap, a large order of nachos on Yugi's lap and they had one large soda; Honda on the other hand had a normal sized soda and a pathetically small bag of popcorn. He did tell them to get him whatever but in comparison it didn't seem like much.

"Hey." Jonouchi turned to him and Yugi leaned forward so he was visible. "If I run out of popcorn can I share with you guys?"

"Sure Honda-kun." Yugi replied and Jonouchi nodded. "I-If we don't run out." The brunet half expected that comment, they had the biggest appetites in this little group (though Bakura was a close third) so they could eat twice as much as any normal person and still not be full – but the saddest thing of all was they never ate to get full.

Bakura, who was sitting in front of Jonouchi, leaned his head back. "I bought some candy for us to share."

"Bakura, you are the greatest~" Jonouchi exclaimed putting a nacho in the white-haired teen's mouth. As the white-haired teen put his head back in the upright position chewing Otogi glared at him. Yugi and Jonouchi personally head-hunted him into becoming their friend so they were closer to Bakura than the rest of them. Otogi often thought Bakura merely put up with the rest of them for Yugi and/or Jonouchi's benefit. Hell, that was the reason Otogi bothered hanging out with the rest of them. Sure, he initially was solely interested in Jonouchi which explained why he was prone to teasing and harassing the blond but he couldn't deny Yugi's cuteness was more than enough reason to hang around the group too especially since it was Yugi who considered them to be friends in the first place subconsciously conning the rest of them into feeling the same or at least similar.

The previews ended then the movie began in a pier of all things. The credits began rolling as the seen was playing out and a group of kids were walking around the pier with flashlights talking amongst themselves. Yugi glanced at his best friend who seemed to be okay for the moment understandably so nothing happened yet. Jonouchi seemed to be keeping himself occupied by eating and squinting at the screen.

Suddenly, something loudly exploded or popped up on the screen startling the entire theater. Because Yugi was looking at Jonouchi he missed what went on, thankfully, and when he glanced at Jonouchi again the blond's hand was frozen over the popcorn tin. He was fairing better than Yugi expected. Honestly, Yugi expected a shriek, a gasp, _something_ but Jonouchi was holding his ground much like how he was at his old apartment. The shorter teen nudged his best friend who slowly turned to him. He moved his hand toward Jonouchi's wincing as the blond quickly latched onto the offered hand tightly.

Yugi slowly turned back to the screen using his free hand to reach into the popcorn tin getting some food. With every gasp, squeal, or loud noise going on screen that made the viewers in the theater jump Jonouchi merely squeezed Yugi's hand without so much as a peep. Yugi had to give his best friend credit, he was a true pro at putting on a front like nothing was wrong.

The fifteen-year-old looked ahead at the rest of his friends; Anzu and Mai were holding onto one another, Bakura was too busy eating to look at the screen and Otogi seemed genuinely uninterested in what was happening on the screen. He couldn't see Honda with Jonouchi's body blocking him but the brunet was in their row anyway.

Speaking of the blond, he stood suddenly causing both Yugi and Honda to look up at him. "I gotta take a leak." Almost mechanically, he handed Yugi the half eaten popcorn tin walked out of the theater bypassing Honda and the rest of the patrons on his right.

With Jonouchi out of sight, Honda turned his attention to Yugi who was somehow managing to eat both his popcorn and nachos that were both on his lap without spilling anything. There was no way he could talk to the shorter teen with all their friends around or the loudness in the theater but there was always the after movie trip to Jonouchi's place. Needless to say, Honda was looking forward to that. He might not have been as good a gamer as Yugi but he was bigger and had far more experience in terms of human interaction.

The blond silently returned this time entering on Yugi's side. The shorter teen glanced at Jonouchi who slumped back into his seat clearly wishing he was elsewhere at the moment. "What did I miss?" He whispered leaning against Yugi.

"Not much... uh, I mean there was a bunch of gross stuff." Jonouchi grimaced at Yugi beaming at him. "But don't worry, I'm here." The blond sighed returning his attention to the screen squinting. It was going to be a long day in the theater. "Popcorn?" Yugi held the bucket in front of the blond and at the same time a man on the screen's head got sliced clean off by an ax.

Without warning, Jonouchi leaned his head forward retching into the popcorn bucket. Yugi nearly dropped the bucket but held it closer to Jonouchi's face as he continued to empty the contents of his stomach. As Mai, Honda, Anzu and Otogi looked away trying not to gag Bakura looked back at the display earnestly. "Damn, I really wanted some of that popcorn..."


End file.
